FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


Section  'C^\<0 


HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND 


^  -t^ 

^^/^^l*^ 


[Elliott  &  Fry 


y 


HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLA: 

HON.    D.D.    ABERDEEN  :     HON.    D.LiTT.    OXFORD 

REGIUS    PROFESSOR   OF   DIVINITY    IN    OXFORD 

CANON   OF   ST.    PAUL'S 


MEMOIR   AND   LETTERS 


EDITED    BY 

STEPHEN    PAGET 


"The  central  tact  of  Christianity  is  not  the  Divinity  of  a 
man,  but  the  Humanity  of  a  God  ;  not  life  out  of  life,  so  much 
as  life  out  of  death.''     (1870.) 

"  We  are  what  our  brothers  are.  We  and  they  stand  and 
fall  together.  If  they  are  contemptible,  so  arc  we.  If  we  are 
struggling  after  higher  things,  so  are  they.  If  we  see  visions,  so 
do  they.  One  fate  ;  one  flesh  and  blood  ;  one  story  ;  one 
strife;  one  glory — this  is  the  underlying  secret  of  humanity." 
(1897.) 

"  Very  good  it  is  to  have  been  alive  :  very  dear  is  the  Earth 
which  has  been  so  kind  a  home."     (1915.) 


NEW  YORK 

E.   P.   BUTTON  AND   COMPANY 

1921 


TO 
SPENCER   AND   ALICE    HOLLAND 


PREFACE 

So  many  of  Scott  Holland's  friends  have  helped  me,  that  it 
is  impossible  for  me  to  thank  each  of  them  here.  Mrs.  Ady, 
whose  friendship  with  him  goes  back  to  1870,  was  to  have 
written  this  book  :  she  and  her  daughter  collected  and 
arranged  some  of  the  materials  for  it :  a  long  illness  inter- 
rupted the  work,  and  it  was  entrusted  to  me. 

I  have  given  a  full  account  of  his  early  life,  especially 
of  the  years  between  1868  and  1874.  I  hope  that  I  have 
not  done  wrong  to  make  free  use  of  R.  L.  Nettleship's 
letters.  They  do  not  represent  all  that  was  in  him  :  they 
belong  to  a  time  when  differences  of  belief  were  taken 
gravely,  as  a  tragedy,  which  now  are  taken  lightly,  as  a 
comedy.  Men  who  only  knew  him  as  a  teacher  of  pure 
philosophy  in  Oxford  will  wonder  at  them,  and  perhaps  will 
feel  that  they  were  too  intimate  for  publication.  But  I 
could  not  get  away  from  them,  nor  could  I  give  without 
them  a  clear  picture  of  Holland  at  Balliol.  Besides,  I 
doubt  whether  the  present  statements  of  differences  of 
belief  are  so  well  worth  studying  as  the  interchange  of 
thoughts,  half  a  century  ago,  between  T.  H.  Green,  Nettleship, 
and  Holland. 

In  his  letters,  Holland  was  rather  prodigal  of  little 
affectionate  phrases,  and  of  capitals — I  find  him,  for  instance, 
writing  "  of  Course  " — and  of  words  underlined.  I  have 
not  always  copied  these :  and  I  have  not  always  marked 
the    omission   of    sentences   in   letters    from    or   to    him. 


vi  PREFACE 

He  was  fond  of  keeping  letters  ;  and  his  friends  treasured 
his  letters  to  them.  It  has  been  a  fine  experience,  to  trace 
through  a  thousand  or  more  letters  the  chief  events  of  his  life, 
and  to  watch  the  development  of  his  gifts.  I  was  not  in 
the  nearer  circle  of  his  friends  and  disciples.  Many  of  them 
have  written  of  him,  with  admirable  knowledge  and  insight : 
it  is  open  to  everybody,  to  see  what  they  say  of  him  :  and 
this  memoir  is  hardly  more  than  a  record  of  episodes  and 
a  collection  of  letters.  He  lived  in  the  lives  of  his  friends, 
and  of  his  legions  of  hearers  and  readers,  delighting  and 
inspiring  them  :  he  was  like  sunshine  filling  a  room  and 
bringing  out  every  spark  of  colour  latent  in  it.  I  could 
not  describe  the  look  of  his  face,  the  brightness  of  his  wit, 
and  the  magic  that  he  exercised  over  non-productive  talk, 
as  a  conjurer  gets  flowers  out  of  an  empty  hat.  Nor  could 
I  appraise  his  theological  and  political  teaching.  Least 
of  aU  could  I  describe  him  in  his  prayers  and  retreats  and 
communions  :  yet  in  them — above  all,  in  his  communions, 
from  the  day  of  his  confirmation  at  Eton  to  the  day  of  his 
death  in  Oxford — is  the  key  to  him  as  he  showed  himself 
to  the  men  and  women  of  his  time. 

Still,  this  memoir  may  be  welcome  to  his  friends  now, 
as  a  frame  in  which  they  can  put  their  thoughts  of  him  ; 
and  to  some  of  his  contemporaries  who  misjudged  him, 
and  believed  this  or  that  against  him.  And  it  may  serve 
another  purpose,  many  years  hence.  For  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  he  will  then  be  studied  with  new  attention. 
The  urgency  of  national  and  international  anxieties  makes 
us  forget  him  :  but  the  time  will  come,  perhaps,  for  him  to 
be  discovered.  When  it  comes,  his  philosophy  and  religion, 
his  interpretation  of  St.  John,  his  defence  of  "  the  super- 
natural setting  of  the  Faith,"  his  Christian  Socialism,  his 
politics,  his  criticism  of  men  and  books,  and  the  whole  range 
of  his   influences,   will  be   diligently  investigated.    There 


PREFACE  vii 

will  be  one  or  more  Holland  Societies.  The  members  of 
them,  who  were  not  yet  born  when  he  died,  will  read  papers 
on  him  :  they  will  look  him  up  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
British  Museum  Library,  and  in  that  quiet  atmosphere  will 
seek  to  reconstruct  him  as  a  historical  figure. 

A  great  body  of  literature  is  already  waiting  there  for 
them.  His  own  books,  to  begin  with,  and  his  introductions 
to  the  books  of  others  :  for  he  was  godfather  to  a  multitude 
of  children  and  a  multitude  of  books.  All  the  continuous 
output  of  his  journalism,  from  1894  to  1918,  in  Goodwill 
and  Commonwealth.  His  letters  to  Mrs.  Drew,  in  Some 
Hawarden  Letters  (1917)  and  A  Forty  Years'  Friendship 
(1919) .  The  full  and  authoritative  statement  of  his  doctrine, 
in  Canon  Richmond's  book,  The  Philosophy  of  Faith  and 
the  Fourth  Gospel.  The  collections  of  his  sermons  and 
articles,  by  Mr.  Cheshire.  Last  but  not  least,  the  series  of 
articles,  by  friends  who  knew  him  well,  published  in  Common- 
wealth just  after  his  death,  and  republished  in  book-form 
under  the  title,  Henry  Scott  Holland  :  Some  Appreciations. 
And  many  notices  of  him  in  the  newspapers  and  magazines 
of  1918.  One  of  the  best  of  these  notices  was  written  by 
Mr.  C.  F.  G.  Masterman,  in  the  Nation  : — 

.  .  .  The  attachment  of  titles  and  honours  and  positions 
to  this  man  creates  in  itself  a  sense  of  absurdity.  He  was 
so  conspicuously  himself,  alone ;  so  conspicuously  not  the 
Oxford  don  and  the  popular  preacher  and  the  Doctor  of 
Divinity  instructing  the  would-be  ordinand  in  the  narrow 
ways  he  should  go.  All  who  knew  him  and  loved  him  will 
think  of  him  quite  otherwise.  The  remembrance  is  of  a 
flaming  vitality,  so  alive  as  to  give  to  most  of  those  around 
him  an  air  of  intellectual  torpor.  It  was  as  a  sword,  a 
flame,  a  challenge — always  the  simile  of  battle — that  Scott 
Holland  appeared  in  his  lifetime  :  whether  in  the  humour 
and  brilliance  of  intellectual  debate,  in  which  he  could  hold 
his  own  against  all  men ;  or  in  his  proclamation  of  faith 
in   the   ideal,    defiantly   overwhelming   with   ridicule   and 


viii  PREFACE 

mystical  appeal  the  little  sordid  aims  of  the  generation  in 
which  he  lived. 

...  In  the  days  when  the  Christian  Social  Union  was 
almost  alone  in  proclaiming  the  injustice  of  present  society, 
he  would  address  vast  audiences  in  the  North — at  St. 
George's  Hall  at  Bradford,  or  the  Coliseum  at  Leeds,  or 
the  great  railway  sheds  at  Derby.  The  common  people 
there  heard  him  gladly,  and  were  swept  off  their  feet  by 
the  fire  of  his  eloquence  :  so  that  many  who  attended  those 
meetings  are  still  certain  that  none  of  the  later  popular 
orators — for  this  was  a  time  before  interest  in  poverty  was 
the  easiest  way  to  power — ever  so  moved  an  audience  or 
maintained  an  argument  so  convincing  in  the  reasonableness 
and  conviction  of  its  appeal. 

...  It  was  as  a  prophet,  that  he  preached  :  testifying, 
in  the  heart  of  the  capital  of  Empire,  amidst  its  splendours 
and  squalors,  against  its  amazing  materialism.  Many  of 
his  published  sermons  strike  the  same  passionate  note  as 
those  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  towards  older  civilizations, 
equally  self-satisfied,  equally  insecure.  The  "  burden  "  of 
Tyre  or  Nineveh  was  interpreted  by  him  as  the  burden  of 
London. 

.  .  .  His  greatest  preaching  was  in  the  work  of  Christian 
Apology.  He  was  passionately  of  his  age.  He  had  no 
use  for  those  who  turned  their  back  upon  its  problems 
or  stood  aloof  from  its  difficulties.  He  faced  life  as  he 
found  it,  surging  all  around  him.  .  .  .  Above  all,  he  was 
moved  to  anger  by  cruelty  and  oppressions.  He  would 
have  no  toleration  for  a  passive  virtue.  He  set  up  the 
standard  of  the  poor  and  called  men  to  their  redemption 
as  to  a  crusade. 

All  the  many  books  and  articles  about  him,  and  this  memoir 
among  them,  will  be  useful  to  future  students  of  him.  But 
no  amount  of  reading  will  give  them  all  that  he  was  :  and 
they  will  obtain  only  a  faint  and  wavering  image  of  the 
man  whom  we  knew. 

Memorials  to  him  have  been  placed  in  St.  Paul's,  and  in 
Oxford  Cathedral.  That  in  Oxford  says  of  him,  Invisibilem 
tanquam  videns  Deum,  Regnum  Ejus  coeleste  fide  inconcuss^, 
spe  vivida,  caritate  hilari,  nunquam  non  in  ten-a  prsestruebat. 


PREFACE  ix 

[As  beholding  God  Invisible,  he  was  unceasingly  founding 
on  earth  His  Heavenly  Kingdom,  in  unshaken  faith,  vivid 
hope,  joyous  love.]  The  Holland  Memorial  Fund,  instituted 
in  1918,  has  been  well  supported,  and  well  applied  ;  but  it 
still  needs  contributions.  It  is  for  three  purposes :  (i)  To 
meet  the  initial  expense  of  bringing-out  his  unpublished 
writings;  (2)  To  assist  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Maurice 
Hostel  at  Hoxton ;  (3)  To  found  a  Holland  Lecture,  on  the 
theology  of  the  Incarnation  in  its  bearing  on  the  social  and 
economic  life  of  man.  * 

Looking  over  the  proofs  of  this  memoir,  I  fear  that  some 
of  the  dates  and  references  may  be  wrong.  He  was  not 
methodical  in  the  dating  of  his  letters :  and  I  have  been 
hindered  by  illness  from  verifying  some  of  the  references. 
But  I  hope  that  I  have,  at  least,  kept  myself  out  of  the  light 
of  his  life  and  his  work.  Not  long  ago,  I  said  to  a  man  whom 
I  greatly  honour,  "  My  difficulty  is,  that  I  can't  be  sure 
whether  Holland,  with  his  Christian  Socialism,  was  really 
bringing  the  Kingdom  of  God  nearer  to  earth,  or  was  only 
sowing  the  wind  and  we  are  reaping  the  whirlwind."  And 
he  said,  "  Perhaps,  after  all,  there's  not  much  difference 
between  the  two  things."  Holland  seemed  to  live  again 
in  that  answer,  with  his  love  of  "  paradoxes." 

It  was  easy  for  men  to  distrust  him  in  politics.  With 
his  "  flaming  vitality,"  he  could  not  always  display  the 
patience  of  Job.  He  could  not  stop  to  weigh-out  his  mind, 
word  by  word,  across  the  political  counter.  Here  and  there 
in  Commonwealth,  his  invective  writing  is  impaired  by 
extravagance  or  prejudice.  Yet,  for  one  over-statement, 
there  are  many  grave  and  prophetic  judgments,  carefully 
thought-out  and  magnificently  worded.  Again,  he  was  too 
ready  with  his  approval  of  certain  exponents  of  the  causes 

•  Contributions  may  be  marked  for  any  one  of  the  purposes  and  may  be 
sent  to  S.  L  Holland,  Crossways,  Berkhamsted, 


X  PREFACE 

which  he  was  upholding.  Yet,  behind  this  off-hand  approval, 
his  resolute  will  to  judge  for  himself  was  alert  and  waiting 
for  action.  Again,  it  was  easy  for  some  of "  the  respectables  " 
to  say  that  they  found  him  elusive,  or  fantastical,  or  be- 
wildering ;  that  he  cared  more  for  pleasant  visions  than  for 
hard  facts.  Yet,  under  the  play  of  colours  on  the  surface 
of  his  life,  there  was  a  depth  of  reserve,  hardness,  and  un- 
failing recognition  of  things  as  they  are. 

The  later  years  in  Oxford  are  a  sort  of  epilogue  to  his 
life.  He  did  not  live  to  see  the  end  of  the  War ;  but  his 
death  was  not  iU-timed  for  him :  it  prevented  him  from 
seeing  the  disappointments  and  miseries  of  the  past  two 
years.  But  he  would  have  held  his  own  against  them,  fide 
inconcussd,  spe  vividd,  caritate  hilari ;  and  would  have  in- 
spired many  of  us  to  be  of  one  mind  with  him. 

December,  1920. 


CONTENTS 
PART    I 


PAGE 


I.  From  1847  to  1867 3 

II.  Balliol,  1 868- 1 870 23 

III.  Christ  Church,  1871-1874 54 

IV.  Christ  Church,  1875-1878 .80 

V.  Christ  Church,  1879-1884 98 

VI.     Home  Life.     By  Spencer  L.  Holland 115 

VII.    Other  Memories 125 

PART    II 

I.  St.  Paul's 139 

II.  From  1885  to  1889 160 

III.  "The  Log  of  the  Water-logged" 176 

IV.  1890  to  1903 194 

V.     1904  to  1910 224 

VI.  Holland  and  the  Christian  Social  Union.      By  Bishop  Gore  240 

PART    III 

I.    Letters  of  Fantasy,  and  Letters  to  Children         .        .  255 

II.  Letters  to  a  Young  Cousin 265 

III.  Letters  of  Criticism  and  of  Portraiture          .        .        .  275 

IV.  Letters  of  Encouragement  and  of  Consolation        .        .  288 

PART    IV 

I.     From  1911  to  August,  1914  .......  299 

II.     From  August,  1914  to  March,  1918 312 

Bibliography  , 329 

Index 331 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

H.  S.  Holland,  1910 Frontispiece 

William  Johnson         ~) 

\ 10 

Thomas  Hill  Green    J 

H.  S.  Holland  at  Eton,  1863 14 

The  Balliol  Eight,  1869 24 

Hon.  Charlotte  Dorothea  Holland 120 

H.  S.  Holland,  1895 204 

Holland  in  his  Study  at  Amen  Court 224 

Holland  in  his  Garden,  Christ  Church,  Oxford       .        .        .  238 


xn 


PART   I 


HENRY    SCOTT    HOLLAND 


I 

FROM   1847   TO   1867 

Henry  Scott  Holland  was  a  son  of  George  Henry  Holland, 
and  a  grandson  of  Swinton  Colthurst  Holland,  of  the  firm  of 
Strickland  and  Holland,  merchants  and  agents,  Swinton 
Holland,  in  1806,  was  representing  his  firm  in  Trieste  during 
the  French  occupation  ;  and  was  detained  there  by  order  of 
Massena.  His  elder  son,  Edward  Colthurst  Holland,  was 
born  at  that  time  :  "  born  under  a  French  Government," 
Swinton  Holland  writes,  "yet  I  could  scarcely  wish  for  his 
existence,  could  I  suppose  he  would  adopt  either  their  manners 
or  their  principles."  On  his  return  to  England,  Swinton 
Holland  lived  at  the  Priory,  Roehampton.  Later,  he  became 
a  partner  in  Baring's.  In  1822,  he  bought  Lord  Somers's 
estate,  Dumbleton,  near  Evesham,  and  built  the  present 
Hall. 

His  son  Edward,  who  inherited  Dumbleton,  was  a  well- 
known  agriculturist,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Agricultural 
College  at  Cirencester.  He  was  Member  for  Evesham 
Borough  from  1855  to  1868. 

The  younger  son,  George  Henry  Holland,  inherited 
sufficient  means  to  make  him  independent  of  any  business 
or  profession.  He  was  fond  of  traveUing  :  he  visited  Spain, 
Greece,  Turkey,  not  without  risks  and  adventures.  At  home, 
he  was  fond  of  hunting,  and  of  driving  a  four  in  hand.  He 
married  Charlotte  Dorothea,   eldest  daughter  of  the  first 

3  B  2 


4  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Lord  Gifford  ;  who,  as  Sir  Robert  Gifford,  Attorney-General, 
conducted  two  famous  cases,  the  one  against  the  Cato  Street 
conspirators,  the  other  against  Queen  CaroHne  ;  was  raised 
to  the  Bench  as  Baron  Gifford  of  St.  Leonard,  Devon  ;  was 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  Deputy  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  Master  of  the  Rolls.  He  and  Swinton 
Holland  were  neighbours  at  Roehampton.  After  Lord 
Gifford 's  death,  Lady  Gifford  and  her  family  lived  near 
Edinburgh  for  some  years,  and  then  at  Woodchester,  near 
Stroud  :  and  George  Holland  and  Miss  Gifford  first  met  in 
1842,  when  he  was  hunting  with  her  brother  in  Gloucester- 
shire. 

They  were  married  in  1844.  Their  first  child,  Anne 
Harriet  Lilhan,  was  born  in  1845,  at  Gayton  House,  near 
Ross.  Henry  Scott  was  born  on  January  27,  1847,  at 
Underdown,  Ledbury ;  he  was  baptised  in  Ledbury  parish 
church  ;  and  was  named  Henry  after  his  father,  and  Scott 
after  his  uncle  Scott  Gifford,  who  was  named  after  John  Scott, 
Lord  Eldon,  King  George  the  Third's  Chancellor.  Arthur 
Gambler  was  born  in  1848  ;  Lawrence  Gifford  in  1850  ; 
Amy  Charlotte  in  1853  ;  and  Spencer  Langton  in  1855. 

Episodes  of  Scott  Holland's  childhood  are  noted  in  his 
mother's  diaries  : — 

1847.  He  is  the  best  baby  possible,  never  cries  at 
washing,  dressing,  or  anything  but  hunger,  always  smihng, 
laughing,  or  sleeping  ...  an  excellent  travelhng  baby, 
never  crying  or  fidgeting,  but  smiles  or  sleeps  away  his 
happy  Uttle  life. 

1848.  Scotty  is  very  merry  and  funny  and  most  in- 
dependent, walking  by  himself  and  delighted  to  escape  out- 
side and  run  down  the  row  opening  all  the  garden  gates  : 
he  is  quite  in  extacies  when  he  sees  horses,  and  imitates  the 
soldiers  marching, 

1849. ';  Scotty  is  very  sociable  with  everyone,  and  a  great 
favourite  with  all  from  his  bright  and  engaging  ways  : 
full  of  spirits  and  fun,  and  the  best,  most  obedient,  and 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  5 

sweetest  child  possible.     I  have  begun  his  prayers  regularly 
now,  and  he  always  says  his  grace  very  solemnly. 

In  1850,  she  records  "  a  few  battles  of  obstinacy  with 
Scotty  "  ;  and  a  visit  to  the  Zoological  Gardens  :  "he  was 
greatly  excited  there  :  always,  when  any  stranger  spoke 
to  him,  immediately  inquired,  Have  you  seen  the  hippo-ippo- 
popamus  ?  "  In  1 85 1,  a  little  hymn  that  he  wrote  ;  and  a 
little  poem — 

The  Lion  is  a  noble  beast, 

It  roams  about  the  land. 
And  eats  up  all  the  other  beasts 

That  in  its  reach  do  stand.     . 

In  1 85 1  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holland  went  to  Rome  for  the 
winter ;  and  took  with  them — ^it  is  a  good  instance  of  the 
tenacity  of  home  life  seventy  years  ago — Lilly,  Scott,  Arthur, 
Lawrence,  and  two  nurses.  The  children  had  need  to  be 
"  good  traveUing  babies  "  :  for  the  family  drove  from  Dijon 
to  Geneva,  over  the  Jura ;  into  Italy  over  the  Simplon  ; 
were  in  Rome  till  April,  1852  ;  and  came  back  by  Florence, 
Venice,  Innsbruck,  Salzburg,  Vienna,  and  Prague. 

From  Mrs.  Holland's  diaries 

{The  Simplon.)  The  children  aU  enjoyed  this  journey 
very  much  :  they  were  very  curious  to  "  get  into  the  clouds  " 
hanging  over  the  mountains,  and  were  delighted  with  the 
torrents,  and  rather  alarmed  at  the  bad  roads  ;  Scotty 
exclaiming,  "  Oh  what  horrible  roads  that  Napoleon  did 
make  with  his  three  thousand  soldiers."  ...  It  has 
particularly  struck  me,  in  driving  the  journey,  his  readiness 
to  give  up  anything  to  please  others,  never  thinking  of  him- 
self, tho'  with  his  merry  spirits  and  perpetual  movements 
the  confinement  of  the  carriage  might  have  been  so  trying 
to  him  for  so  many  hours  together,  but  he  was  always 
good-humoured. 

{In  Rome.)  "  What  a  very  unkind  Pope  this  is,"  said 
Scotty,  walking  down  the  Via  Babuino  with  me  one  day. 


6  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

"  Why,  Scotty  ?  "  "  Because  he  will  not  let  the  ladies 
wear  their  pretty  pink  bonnets  when  they  go  to  see  him, 
but  makes  them  put  on  black  gowns.  If  I  was  them,  I 
would  not  go  and  see  such  an  unkind  Pope,  unless  I  might 
wear  what  I  like  :  and  if  I  was  the  Pope,  I  should  like  the 
ladies  to  look  pretty."  He  likes  trying  to  talk  Italian,  and 
calls  to  our  Donna,  "  Viene  qui  subito,"  and  announces 
"  Pranzo  e  pronti,"  and  I  often  hear  him  exclaiming,  "  O 
molto  bello,"  "  Cosi  cosi,"  and  "  Come  si  chiame  cosi  ?  " 
He  would  go  and  speak  to  the  French  soldiers  on  the  Pincian 
Hill,  and  talk  to  any  one  he  fancied.  Once,  on  the  railroad, 
we  stopped  to  change  trains,  and  he  with  his  usual  in- 
dependence strolled  away  by  himself,  and  when  we  were  just 
starting  off  we  saw  the  little  figure  strutting  composedly 
back,  with  his  cane,  and  hat  on  one  side  ;  and  we  said, 
"  Scotty,  you  were  nearly  left  behind.  What  should  you 
have  done  if  the  train  had  gone  on  without  you  ?  "  "  Oh, 
I  should  have  gone  to  the  guard  and  said  Donnez-moi 
place." 

In  1852,  at  five  years  old,  he  was  beginning  to  ask  questions 
about  his  religion.  "  If  Jesus  Christ  died  in  obedience  to 
God's  wish  for  our  sake,  why  did  he  pray  God  not  to  let  him 
die  ?  "  And  again,  "  How  could  Jesus  die  to  save  us  from 
sin,  when  we  are  so  often  sinning  ?  I  cannot  understand 
that." 


From  Mrs.  Holland's  diaries 

1852.  He  feels  so  much  if  I  read  a  pathetic  story  to  him  : 
poor  little  fellow,  with  all  his  spirit,  his  tenderness  will 
I  fear  cause  him  many  a  sad  hour  in  schoolboy  life.  I 
often  wish  he  was  a  girl,  and  had  not  to  face  the  world's 
hardness. 

1853.  He  is  very  fond  of  young  ladies,  and  one  evening 
at  a  party  in  Lowndes  Street  he  looked  very  hard  at  Miss 
Alderson,  and  said,  "  That's  a  nice  girl,  and  she  looks  old 
enough — why  is  she  not  married  ?  "  He  calls  all  the  young 
ladies  he  likes,  his  wives  ;  and  he  charmed  Mrs.  Marsh  by 
his  fondness  for  Lilly  and  saying,  "  I  have  nine  wives, 
but  this  is  the  most  precious  of  all,"  and  flung  his  arms  round 


FROM  1847  TO   1867  7 

her.  He  is  very  fond  of  learning  the  piano,  and  at  all 
moments  is  practising  "  Jenny  Jones  "  and  his  exercises. 
He  gets  on  very  well  with  everything  that  he  learns  :  is 
very  fond  of  his  lessons  and  ready  to  go  to  them.  .  .  .  Scotty 
is  very  fond  of  poetry,  and  likes  me  to  read  to  him  any 
ballads  or  histrionic  poem,  "  Chevy  Chase,"  "  Hohenlinden," 
and  "  Battle  of  Blenheim,"  and  he  learns  them  very  quickly 
from  my  reading  them,  and  his  face  glows  with  delight  as 
I  read  these  ballads.  ...  I  never  saw  such  natural  and  real 
feeUng  for  holy  things  in  a  child.  .  .  .  Arthur  is  very 
methodical,  and  keeps  his  toys  and  things  safely  :  a  contrast 
to  Scotty,  who  has  "  no  head,"  and  leaves  and  loses  his  books 
and  things  dreadfully,  and  cannot  remember  where  he  puts 
anything. 

Even  his  father's  diaries,  through  the  six  years,  find  fault 
with  him  on  two  occasions  only,  and  no  more.  In  1851, 
he  was  "  very  naughty  and  disobedient  "  for  some  days  : 
"  It  is  the  age  when  boys  are  apt  to  '  fly  out '  :  he  is  much 
improved  since  he  came  to  London,  which  I  attribute  to 
his  being  again  under  parental  control."  In  1853,  he  was 
in  some  disgrace  :  "I  begged  his  mother  not  to  let  him  go 
to  Church,  as  a  punishment.  He  is  a  thoughtless  boy  :  I 
fear  that  the  punishment  and  the  admonition  and  all  will 
soon  be  forgotten  :  such  is  childhood,  and  forgetfulness 
one  of  its  enjoyments,  in  which  fact  I  entirely  agree."  A 
later  note  is  more  favourable  :  "  Scotty  is  a  dear  little 
thoughtless  fellow,  but  manageable  and  affectionate,  fuU  of 
life  and  a  charming  keen  spirit." 

In  1854,  the  Hollands  moved  to  Wellesbourne  Hall, 
in  Warwickshire  :  it  was  their  home  for  six  years.  In 
his  earUest  letters,  1854-55,  Scott  writes  of  learning  to  ride, 
of  cutting  his  name  on  a  tree,  and  of  playing  at  the  Crimean 
War  :  with  a  touch  of  chaff  here  : — 

I  have  made  a  falUng  pit  by  the  trench,  to  prevent  the 
Russians  getting  in.  The  trenches  are  getting  on  very 
weU.     We  found  some  coal  yesterday :    if  we  find  a  coal 


8  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

mine,  it  will  save  the  carts  coming  from  Warwick  and 
Stratford.  We  have  made  four  cannon  holes,  and  now  have 
only  to  send  to  Birmingham  for  the  cannons. 

In  February,  1856,  he  went  to  Mr.  Bedford's  school, 
AUesley,  near  Coventry.  He  writes  home,  after  a  fortnight 
there,  "  I  get  on  very  well  in  school  with  my  lessons,  and 
with  the  boys.  I  hke  school  still  very  much,  and  am  very 
happy,"  He  had  plenty  of  lessons,  nearly  eight  hours  a 
day  :  but  he  seems  to  have  enjoyed  the  hfe  thoroughly, 
both  work  and  play.  In  the  holidays,  he  used  to  visit 
his  cousins  at  Dumbleton,  or  his  cousins  at  Boughton  House, 
near  Worcester,  the  home  of  his  aunt  Mrs.  Isaac.  He  writes 
to  his  mother  from  Allesley,  May  31,  1857,  of  Lady  Gifford's 
death,  "  I  was  very  sorry  to  hear  of  dear  Grandmama's 
death,  though  it  is  sure  to  be  for  the  best.  I  was  glad  to 
hear  that  Uncle  Scott  was  in  time  to  see  dear  Grandmama, 
who  is  now  perhaps  interceding  with  God  for  us,  and  much 
happier  than  any  one  on  earth,  and  even  a  better  Christian 
than  my  own  sweet  Mama."  When  he  left  Allesley,  in 
December,  1859,  Mr.  Bedford  wrote  to  Mr.  Holland,  "  I 
parted  with  Scotty  with  many  regrets,  as  I  loved  him  very 
much  indeed  for  his  own  sake,  and  I  can  certainly  never 
expect  to  have  so  satisfactory  a  pupil  again  :  for  in  aU 
my  experience  and  recollection  of  my  own  school  days, 
I  never  saw  so  quick  and  willing  a  little  fellow.  Great 
talents  and  love  of  learning  are  so  often  clouded  by  some 
moroseness,  but  he  was  always  amiable  and  respectful.  I 
sincerely  trust  that  I  treated  him  wisely,  as  I  was  most 
anxious  not  to  spoil  him  or  over-indulge  him,  tho'  I  could 
scarcely  disguise  my  real  fondness  for  him." 

He  went  to  Eton  in  January,  i860,  when  he  was  just 
thirteen.  His  people  were  in  Rome  for  the  winter  :  he  was 
taken  to  Eton  by  his  cousin,  Thurstan  Holland.     He  boarded 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  9 

at  Miss  Gulliver's,  one  of  the  smaller  houses.  As  a  new 
boy,  he  was  put  in  the  Lower  Fourth  Form :  after  a  few  weeks, 
he  was  put  in  the  Upper  Fourth  :  "  so  I  shall  be  in  Fifth 
Form  and  out  of  fagging  in  a  httle  more  than  a  year." 

To  his  Father 

Jan.  25,  i860.— I  Hke  Eton  very  much  already, 
though  it  is  a  great  bother  answering  the  usual  questions, 
"  What's  yoiu-  name  ?  Where  do  you  board  ?  Who  is 
your  tutor  ?  "  My  room  is  rather  small,  though  it  is  very 
warm  and  comfortable  :  I  shall  get  a  bigger  at  Easter,  but 
the  house  is  very  full  now.  I  hke  Mr.  Johnson  very  much, 
though  he  is  rather  bearish  :  and  I  think  I  am  getting  on 
pretty  well  with  him  in  lessons.  I  have  got  a  picture  of  a 
Highland  sporting  poney,  and  a  clock  which  I  find  very 
useful,  but  I  miss  a  watch  rather.  There  is  always  a  fellow 
appointed  to  take  care  of  a  new  fellow  and  to  tell  him  what 
to  do,  etc.,  and  I  have  got  a  very  nice  fellow  called  Sutherland. 
I  am  to  be  fag  to  the  captain,  so  I  shall  get  on  very  well. 

His  tutor,  WiUiam  Johnson,*  the  author  of  "  lonica," 
was  "  a  man  of  genius,  and  has  written  poetry  which  one 
can  hardly  think  will  ever  cease  to  be  reckoned  among  the 
treasures  of  Enghsh  Uterature.  As  a  scholar  he  was  quite 
first-rate,  but  he  was  very  far  from  being  only  a  scholar. 
He  was  deeply  read  in  history  ancient  and  modem.  He 
knew  all  that  there  was  to  know  about  pohtical  economy. 

*  See  "  Extracts  from  the  Letters  and  Journals  of  William  Cory  " : 
selected  and  arranged  by  Francis  Warre  Cornish.  Oxford.  Printed  for 
the  subscribers,  1897.  He  was  bom  Jan.  9,  1823  :  son  of  WiUiam  Charles 
Johnson  and  Mary  Theresa  Johnson,  daughter  of  Peter  Wellington  Furse, 
and  sister  of  Charles  Furse,  Archdeacon  of  Westminster.  William  Johnson 
was  King's  Scholar  at  Eton,  1832  :  Newcastle  Scholar,  1841  :  Scholar 
of  King's  College,  Cambridge,  1842  :  Chancellor's  Medallist  for  English 
Poem,  1843:  Craven  Scholar,  1844:  Fellow  of  King's  College,  1845. 
Appointed  Assistant  Master  at  Eton,  Sept.,  1845.  Left  Eton,  Easter, 
1872.  Took  the  name  of  Cory,  Oct.,  1872.  Married,  1878.  Lived  in 
Madeira,  1878-1882.  Returned  to  England  and  settled  at  Hampstead, 
Sept.,  1882.     Died  June  11,  1892. 


10  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

And  in  his  views  on  education  and  the  training  of  the  mind 
he  was  far  in  advance  of  those  who  were  his  colleagues  at 
Eton,  He  was  a  most  inspiring  teacher,  and  there  are  many 
who  look  upon  his  intellectual  influence  as  the  most  powerful 
force  in  their  Hves  at  school.  Withal  he  had  some  of  the 
eccentricities  which  so  often  accompany  genius,  and  he 
probably  found  the  task  of  drilling  dunces  a  very  tedious  one. 
He  was  full  of  wit  and  wisdom."  ("  Eton  Sixty  Years  Ago," 
by  A.  C.  Ainger.  1917.)  He  deUghted  in  music,  and  in 
criticism.  He  was  impatient  of  all  talking-down  to  boys  : 
as  he  writes  to  Holland  in  June,  1868,  "  We  had  a  clerical 
rough  here  yesterday,  preaching  to  the  boys  about 
'  coming  forward,'  '  carr5dng  weight,'  and  similar  athletic 
slang."  * 

Among  Holland's  friends  at  Eton  were  W.  H.  Ady, 
AlbericE.  Bertie,  C.  E.  Buckland,  Dalmeny  (Lord  Rosebery), 
S.  J.  Fremantle,  G.  W.  Kennion  (now  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells),  A.  G.  Legard,  Phihp  E.  Lee,  (Lord)  Northcote, 
(Sir)  Hubert  Parry,  Everard  Primrose,  and  F.  G.  L,  Wood, 
son  of  the  first  Lord  Hahfax.  Some  of  them — Dalmeny, 
Fremantle,  Northcote,  Primrose,  and  Wood — were  in 
Johnson's  pupil-room  with  him.  For  nicknames,  Ady  was 
Gruff :  Fremantle  was  Bird :  Holland  was  Monkey  or 
Link  :   Wood  was  Mouse. 

*  Thirty-three  years  after  Eton,  in  July,  1897,  Holland  wrote  of  him, 
"  The  old  tutor  who  was  our  genius  and  our  inspiration  has  been  brought 
back  by  the  printing  of  his  letters  and  journal,  just  out  this  week  ;  with 
touching  pathetic  memories,  and  delicate  flashes  of  insight,  and  lovely 
allusions,  all  flocking  back  upon  our  hearts  out  of  the  records.  He  was  a 
poet,  and  a  lover,  and  a  man  of  genius,  all  three."  Later  still,  in  Common- 
wealth, Oct.,  1909,  he  wrote  of  him,  "  He  was  a  Whig,  a  tough  resolute  Whig. 
And  his  Whiggery,  coupled  with  the  deUcate  and  sensitive  fastidiousness 
of  the  scholar-poet,  held  him  back  from  democracy.  He  shrank  from  its 
crude  colours.  He  could  not  tolerate  the  wild  plunge  of  Mr.  Gladstone 
into  the  welter  of  popular  forces.  He  recoiled  from  Home  Rule.  He 
clung  to  high  memories  of  the  days  when  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  the 
elect  won  and  held  the  leadership  of  the  people  by  right  of  its  excellent 
quality." 


W         M 
t/J 

o 

H 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  II 


To  his  Mother 

Nov.  30,  i860. — I  have  been  thinking  about  my 
confirmation  a  great  deal  lately.  I  have  read  the  Bible 
nearly  every  night  this  half,  sometimes  two  or  three  chapters, 
and  I  have  got  to  know  and  Hke  the  Epistles  much  more ; 
but  still  I  have  no  strength  of  mind  to  keep  my  resolutions. 
I  am  so  wretchedly  weak.  I  have  not  laughed,  when  fellows 
have  spoken  about  what  we  talked  about,  and  have  tried 
not  to  say  anything  myself  ;  but  I  have  no  strength  to  speak 
out  or  stop  it  all,  though  there  is  very  little  of  it  now  in 
my  Dame's  ;  I  do  not  think  I  have  any  influence  for  good, 
and  I  sacrifice  every  day  nearly  to  my  old  idol,  popularity. 
I  am  so  careless,  and  keep  saying  things  by  accident  which 
I  am  very  sorry  for  afterwards.  I  pray  nearly  every  night 
for  strength  and  decision,  but  I  do  not  think  I  improve  at 
all.  One  thing  God  and  you,  his  agent  on  earth,  have  given 
me,  and  that  is,  in  all  my  little  troubles  I  naturally  begin 
to  pray  to  God  in  everything.  I  often  think  of  my  first 
Communion,  and  how  I  shall  be  prepared  for  it,  and  whether 
I  shall  mind  laughter,  etc.,  as  I  do  now.  Oh,  how  I  wish  I 
could  stop  the  thoughts  that  will  come.  I  have  much 
fewer  temptations  in  that  way  now. 


It  is  bewildering,  to  find  that  his  father,  in  June,  1861, 
asked  Baring's  to  take  Scott  into  their  office.  Happily,  there 
was  no  immediate  chance  of  a  vacancy.  This  year,  the 
family  moved  to  Gayton  Lodge,  Wimbledon.  Next  year, 
he  was  in  the  Middle  Fifth  at  Eton ;  with  Bertie,  Buckland, 
Dalmeny,  Eldon,  Edward  Hamilton,  Kennion,  Mowbray 
Morris,  Northcote,  and  Wood.  In  the  Christmas  holidays, 
his  tutor  writes  to  him  : — 


Dec.  15,  1862. — Two  hours  a  day  given  to  the  history 
would  make  you  not  merely  fit  for  Trials  but  stored  for  fife 
with  valuable  knowledge.  A  man  who  knows  one  important 
period  of  history  well  has  for  fife  an  historical  perception 
which  saves  him  from  aU  kinds  of  error  and  delusion.     You 


12  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

should  read  this  Reformation  period  in  more  than  one 
book.  Do  not  look  at  Froude  :  he  lies  monstrously  :  no 
one  has  falsified  history  more  scandalously.  Hume  is  good 
in  the  Tudor  period  :  it  is  the  best  part  of  his  book  :  but 
any  history  of  England  is  better  than  Froude.  I  prefer 
the  Pictorial :  but  it  is  hard  to  get  hold  of,  and  very  long. 
Now,  as  you  are  not  good  at  composition,  you  must  try  to 
be  first-rate  in  the  history  papers.  You  will  know  the 
lessons  well  enough,  and  I  suppose  your  mathematics 
are  sufficient  for  Trials,  though  probably  a  year  behind  where 
they  would  be  if  you  were  at  Rugby.  (At  Rugby  you  would 
be  thought  a  very  good  composer.) 


In  May,  1863,  his  father  notes  in  his  diary,  "  During 
this  month  Scotty's  tutor  at  Eton  wrote  to  say  that  he 
was  not  progressing  favourably,  and  advising  me  to  decide 
on  his  future  career.  I  am  willing  enough  to  do  so,  did 
I  know  that  the  boy  had  any  particular  turn  of  mind  for 
any  profession,  but  alas  !  it  is  not  so."  But  there  was 
no  thought  now  of  putting  him  into  business  :  the  talk 
was  of  getting  a  junior  appointment  for  him  in  the  Foreign 
Office,  under  his  uncle  Scott  Gifford :  and  the  choice 
lay  between  the  Foreign  Office,  and  Cambridge  or 
Oxford. 

To  his  Father 

Eton,  June,  1863. — Please  do  not  put  yourself  to  any 
inconvenience  in  the  way  of  income  for  the  sake  of  sending 
me  to  a  University :  I  am  sure  you  have  done  enough  for 
me  at  Eton  in  that  way,  and  I  do  so  hate  the  feehng  that 
you  are  stinting  yourself  at  all  for  my  sake.  I  wish  I  had 
repaid  half  you  have  done  for  me  at  Eton ;  I  am  such  a 
weak  sort  of  fellow  ;  I  always  want  some  definite  thing 
to  work  for,  like  Trials,  in  order  to  work  properly,  some 
stimulant,  hke  a  donkey  with  a  bunch  of  carrots  before 
its  nose  to  make  it  go  on  ;  I  find  it  so  hard  to  go  on  working 
in  a  regular  round  of  verses,  themes,  etc.,  every  week  : 
and  this  perpetual  plodding  seems  to  be  what  I   should 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  13 

get  in  the  law  or  the  F.O.,  so  I  suppose  this  would  be  the 
chief  thing  to  work  against,  here  and  at  college,  if  I  go  there. 
My  tutor  has  got  in  his  head  that  I  am  a  great  swell  at 
mathematics  because  I  take  pretty  high  in  Trials  at  this ; 
but  reaUy  I  get  all  the  marks  by  EucUd,  which  I  can  do, 
but  very  few  by  algebra,  which  I  cannot  do,  and  abominate. 
This  idea  rather  biasses  him  towards  Cambridge,  I  think* 
If  Cambridge  is  my  destination,  I  must  set  to  work  at  once 
at  mathematics  ;  if  Oxford,  then  continue  classics,  which 
I  myself  greatly  prefer,  though  my  tutor  must  decide 
whether  I  shall  ever  get  a  scholarship  in  them.  Once  at 
College,  and  I  am  ready  for  any  profession  almost ;  scarcity 
of  money  would,  I  cannot  help  feeling,  be  a  great  stimulant, 
from  my  desire-of-popularity  feeling,  to  getting  the  ;^5o 
scholarship,  though  I  really  feel  the  most  intense  happiness 
at  getting  praise  from  you.  I  have  never  felt  such  delight 
as  writing  to  tell  you  I  had  taken  second  in  Trials  :  and 
there  was  no  gain  to  me  there.  I  am  afraid  the  Church, 
which  my  tutor  advised,  would  never  do  for  me,  or  rather 
I  should  never  do  for  it,  with  my  Hghtheadedness. 

He  left  Eton  at  the  end  of  the  summer  term,  1864.  It 
is  a  great  pity  that  he  did  not  stay  for  one  year  more.  He 
was  in  the  Upper  Division  of  Fifth  Form.  On  the  river, 
he  had  steered  the  Dreadnought  in  1863,  and  the  Victory 
in  1864  :  and  had  won  a  scuUing-race.*  He  had  been  fairly 
good  at  cricket,  and  in  football  had  been  in  the  house- 
eleven  that  won  the  challenge  cup  in  1863. 

*  In  187T,  he  writes  from  Oxford  to  his  brother  Spencer  at  Eton 
who  was  steering  one  of  the  eights :  "  Such  a  jolly  life,  with  the  eight 
swinging  along  bounding  under  you,  and  you  feel  it  hft  out  of  the  water, 
and  the  stream  rushes  by  and  the  water  curdles  with  that  most  deUcious 
of  all  noises  under  the  bending  oars,  and  oh  !  how  the  bank  flies  by  you 
as  you  tear  along  in  the  stream  that  catches  you  coming  out  of  dear  old 
Boveney  Locks,  sneaking  along  close  to  the  shore  which  dances  with  all 
its  daisies  and  dandehons  as  you  whirl  away  to  the  Hopes.  Then  too 
the  long  sweet  hours  at  Monkey,  twining  the  dog-roses  in  your  hat :  and 
4th  of  June  with  all  the  glory  of  white  ducks  and  gigantic  bouquets,  and 
the  wild  spin  in  the  dark  night  down  the  black-ghding  waters  through 
the  misty  shadowy  banks  whirhng  along,  till  you  come  with  a  rush  into 
the  roar  and  blaze  and  yeUing  crowd  and  phizzing  fire  and  pealing  bells 
and  flashing  Ughts  of  the  Brocas.     Ah,  how  lovely  it  all  is." 


14  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Two  of  his  friends  have  written  of  him  at  this  time  of 
his  life : — 

1.  {From  Mr.  C.  E.  Buckland,  CLE.)  He  had  among  us 
the  reputation  of  being  more  studious  and  better  versed 
in  general  literature  than  the  ordinary  boy.  To  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  he  was  still  in  jackets  when  he  left : 
he  had  not  developed  sufficiently  to  attain  the  position  and 
distinction  which  he  would  surely  have  acquired  in  another 
year.  As  a  boy,  he  was  always  popular,  without  any 
effort :  a  delightful  companion,  abounding  in  health  and 
spirits,  genial  and  lively,  good-tempered  and  amusing, 
with  a  great  sense  of  humour  :  he  made  wann  friends,  and 
incurred  no  disUkes.  It  was  evident  that  he  was,  also, 
serious  and  devout,  the  result  of  home  teaching  and 
injfluence. 

2.  {From  the  Rev.  the  Hon.  Alheric  Bertie.)  He  gave  me 
a  friendship  that  I  have  dearly  valued  and  he  never 
forgot.  He  had  the  art  of  taking  the  best  out  of  the 
thing  he  touched,  whether  it  was  a  play  or  a  sermon, 
a  concert  or  an  anthem,  a  game  or  even  a  punish- 
ment. His  tutor,  instead  of  giving  him  the  usual  Unes 
for  some  trivial  offence,  ordered  him  to  bring  an 
epigram :  the  epigram  was  a  great  success :  Johnson 
was  much  pleased  with  his  pupil,  and  congratulated  him 
warmly  :  Scott  was  proud  and  happy.  He  was  a  lightly 
built,  friendly,  good-humoured  boy,  and  not  devoid  of 
"  cheek."  There  was  a  boy  at  my  Dame's  (Gulliver's), 
a  "  fetish  "  several  years  older  than  us,  and  a  swell  in  the 
Boats.  We  ventured  to  chaff  him  about  his  cricket,  and 
were  rather  taken  aback  when  he  said  "  I  could  beat 
you  two  brats  together."  We  were  bound  to  accept 
the  challenge.  I  remember  well  the  energy  with  which 
Scott  played,  racing  after  the  ball  on  that  hot  summer 
morning  as  if  he  really  enjoyed  H.  P.  Senhouse's  hard 
hits. 

Sundays  were  great  days  for  walks  ;  also  for  talks,  in 
which  he  passed  swiftly  from  fun  to  seriousness.  Only 
a  few  have  not  vanished  in  the  mist — conversations  about 
the  services  at  St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico,  by  which  he  was  much 
attracted :  the  cumulative  effects  of  Httle  efforts :  the 
relative  difficulties  of  no  beginning  and  no  end,  in  our  con- 
ception of   eternity  :    the   puzzle  of   destiny  and  free-will. 


llill^  &  batiiittLr  -• 


ETON 
1863 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  15 

They  were  in  our  minds  then.  They  are  not  out  of  my 
mind  yet. 

Long  after  Eton,  his  friend  Kennion  wrote  to  him  : 
"  Let  me  tell  you,  old  fellow,  what  my  beastly  reserve 
almost  forbids  my  letting  out,  that  I  owe  more  of  the  happi- 
ness which  I  have  now,  and  I  trust  for  ever,  to  your  quiet 
influence  at  Eton,  than  to  anything  else  I  know  of  upon 
earth."  * 

In  his  tutor's  journal,  there  is  a  description  of  the  leave- 
taking  at  the  end  of  the  term — 

July  28,  1864. — This  morning  I  gave  a  lecture  on  the 
examination  papers,  and  told  the  boys  how  they  had  done. 
By  10  a.m.,  all  school- work  was  over.  At  breakfast  we  had 
Charles  Wood's  eager  proposal  that  I  should  go  at  once 
to  Hickleton.  It  was  a  great  help  towards  breaking  the 
faU.  But  there  was  nothing  to  comfort  me  in  parting 
with  Holland  ;  and  he  was  the  picture  of  tenderness.  He 
and  others  stayed  a  good  time,  talking  in  the  ordinary  easy 
way — no  confessional — and  one  by  one  they  shook  hands  ; 
first  N.  Lyttelton,  veiling  his  grief  at  leaving  school  in  his 

quaint  hard  Stoic  manner,  shaking  hands  with :    they 

used  to  hate  each  other,  but  have  been  great  friends  this 
summer.  Then  R.  Hussey  spent  some  time  with  me, 
copying  out  two  of  his  honoured  exercises  into  my  book 
while  I  did  business.  M.  Lewis  came,  and  his  shjmess 
did  not  prevent  my  saying  what  I  wished  to  say  to  him. 

*  In  Commonwealth,  March,  1908,  more  than  forty  years  after  Eton, 
there  is  a  reference  to  his  school  life :  it  comes  in  a  criticism  of  "  unde- 
nominational "  teaching :  "  For  myself,  looking  back  to  Eton  days,  I 
am  quite  certain,  out  of  the  experiences  of  my  hfe,  that  the  only  stable 
religious  result  that  I  carried  away  with  me  from  school  came  entirely 
from  what  I  should  call  the  denominational  side.  The  shadowy  teaching 
of  the  sermons  ran  off  me,  Uke  water  off  a  duck's  back :  but  my  con- 
firmation, illuminated  by  the  magic  power  of  Samuel  Wilberforce,  left 
a  deep  and  hfe-long  impression  on  my  soul.  From  the  beautiful  music 
sung  by  the  St.  George's  choir,  I  learned  to  dehght  in  liturgical  worship : 
and  this  dehght  has  never  failed  me.  And,  then,  I  mercifully  gained  the 
habit  of  constant  Communion :  and  this  habit  was  the  one  permanent 
stronghold  of  my  faith,  when  in  after  years  at  Oxford  the  violent  storms 
of  intellectual  trouble  broke  over  my  mind." 


i6  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

But  to  Holland  I  could  say  nothing  :  now  that  I  am  writing 
about  it  I  cannot  bear  to  think  that  he  is  lost. 

There  are  some  verses  by  Holland,  about  this  time, 
full  of  regret  for  idleness,  and  of  gratitude  toward  his 
tutor : — 

Urged  by  one 
Loved  then,  loved  since,  and  loved  for  aye, 
I  caught  from  him  a  glimpse  of  truth, 
And  cast  frivolities  away.  .  .  . 

I  culled  from  his  gigantic  stores 
Whate'er  my  little  mind  could  hold. 

Here  and  there  are  phrases  too  good  to  be  lost : — 

Where  music  waits  with  open  arms.  .  .  . 
To  guide  the  golden  reins  of  life.  .  .  . 

TiU  death  shall  fill 
The  measure  of  Life's  golden  cup.  .  .  . 

In  the  autumn  of  1864,  he  was  at  Dieppe,  boarding  with 
a  French  family,  to  learn  the  language.  He  must  have 
found  the  life  dull,  after  Eton  :  "  All  the  Protestants  here 
think  that  I  am  one  of  them,  and  a  '  devoted  Calvinist.' 
They  will  ask  me  here  how  I  liked  the  sermon  ;  thinking 
that,  like  their  mother,  I  go  to  church  to  hear  the  sermon. 
The  sons  have  a  very  curious  religion  :  they  hate  the  priests, 
and  hope  the  Pope  will  go  to  pot  (translation  of  '  au  diable  ') 
as  soon  as  possible." 


From  his  Tutor 

I.  Eton,  Oct.  29,  1864. — Yesterday  the  Mouse  came  for 
the  first  visit  since  he  left :  he  came  after  lock-up,  just  in 
time  for  Mr,  Vidal's  dinner.  Mr.  V.  had  killed  the  fatted 
calf  in  the  shape  of  champagne  ordered  on  purpose,  and 
Dalmeny  was  invited  to  meet  him.     He  was  grown  in  the 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  17 

two  months  that  passed  since  I  saw  him  at  his  home.  He 
was  full  of  Cambridge  and  was  very  cheerful,  and  incom- 
parably gentle  and  sweet.  Fremantle  and  Knight  came 
to  see  him  just  before  they  went  back  to  Oxford.  The 
Mouse  came  here  and  sat  in  the  old  chair  an  hour  talking 
to  me  quietly.  I  made  him  look  at  the  Keats  which  he 
read  with  you,  which  I  keep  as  a  sacred  relic  :  he  gave  a 
capital  account  of  himself.  But  we  missed  the  dear  Link. 
Joab  never  forgets  you.  Lewis  K.  S.  remembers  you  with 
great  attachment,  and  read  the  other  day  some  of  your 
blank  verse  done  in  Collections  :  I  beheve  you  do  other 
verse,  don't  you  ?  If  you  were  to  let  me  see  it,  I  would 
not  cut  it  up  like  a  copy  of  Latin  verse,  but  treat  it  rever- 
entially, as  I  do  the  EngHsh  verse  of  a  very  interesting  boy 
now  in  the  School,  the  deaf  Campbell.  How  soon  do  you 
come  home  ?  li  you  come  here  we  shall  be  very  much 
happier  and  better  for  it.  Life  is  short :  let  us  love  one 
another  :  there  is  nothing  else  worth  hving  for.  It  makes 
me  weep  to  think  that  you  and  the  Mouse  are  parted,  and  I 
hope  you  will  know  each  other  as  men  in  London  without 
any  film  of  shyness  between  you, 

2.  King's  Coll.,  Cambridge,  Jan.  2,  1865. — I  shall  be  here 
on  the  loth,  or  else  I  should  hesitate  about  declining  your 
tempting  invitation  to  your  plays,  though  the  plunge  into 
crinolinesy  would  abash  me  :  I  am  sadly  afraid  of  strange 
ladies,  and  I  hate  being  asked,  "  What  are  the  numbers 
at  Eton  ?  "  which  is  the  estabUshed  opening  for  conversation. 
I  sat  at  dinner  yesterday  next  to  old  Mathison,  tutor  of 
Trinity,  who  looks  like  a  withered  boy  :  he  is  the  Mouse's 
tutor,  so  I  inquired  after  him,  and  got,  as  I  expected,  a  warm 
eulogy.  He  went  on  to  say  that  the  Eton  lads  were  the 
best  he  had ;  the  most  entirely  free  from  conceit.  "  They 
do  not  put  themselves  forward,  but  they  are  always  pleasant 
to  deal  with,  pleasant  to  meet,"  etc.,  etc.  This  kind  of 
thing  comforts  me,  after  reading  a  wicked  malignant  attack 
on  the  School  (though  not  without  plenty  of  true  charges 
in  it)  in  the  National  Review. 

I  hope  your  plays  will  go  off  as  well  as  what  you  did 
with  Fergusson  at  Tarver's.  I  am  sorry  France  has  broken 
down  with  you  after  a  fair  start.  I  am  reading  the  Hfe  of 
a  thoroughly  wise,  good,  patriotic  Frenchman  who  lived 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV,  when  people  would  have  you 
believe   that  there  was  nothing  in  France  but  vice  and 

c 


i8  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

unbelief.  He  was  called  Turgot :  and  if  you  are  to  be 
a  diplomat,  you  ought  some  day  to  know  something  about 
him  :  he  was  a  perfect  reformer  :  that  muff  Louis  XVI 
let  him  be  turned  out  of  ofhce. 

r 
In  1865,  Holland  was  with  a  private  tutor,  Rev.  Charles 

Cookson,    in   Northamptonshire,    reading   for   Oxford.     In 

October,  he    went  up    for    the    entrance    examination    at 

BaUiol ;    a  very  hard  examination,  and  he  failed,  and  the 

Master  strongly  advised  that  he  should  not  try  again.     In 

Jan.,  t866,  he  did  try  again,  and  was  successful ;  he  writes 

to  his  father  : — 

The  Mitre,  Oxford,  Jan.  25. — I  am  delighted  to  tell  you 
that  I  am  a  Balliolite.  They  called  me  up  first,  so  I  suppose 
I  took  first ;  and  as  there  were  only  two  fellows  got  through, 
I  cannot  have  been  very  far  off  it.  Dr.  Scott  admitted 
me  by  saying  some  Latin  formula  ;  I  am  to  have  my  rooms 
to-morrow.     I  am  afraid  you  must  have  been  very  anxious. 


From  Mr.  Cookson  to  Mr.  Holland 

Jan.  31,  1866. — .  .  .  He  is  now  within  reach  (by  all 
accounts)  of  the  very  best  that  is  to  be  had,  I  can  say 
nothing  more  specific  about  his  examination  than  that 
Palmer  wrote  to  me  saying  that  he  "  passed  with  flying 
colours  "  ;  and  we  know  he  must  have  been  either  first 
or  second.  I  take  no  credit  at  all  to  myself ;  I  rather 
confess  myself  to  have  been  floored.  Nevertheless,  I  am 
quite  prepared  for  a  succession  of  Balliol  pupils.  Anything 
rather  than  teach  fools. 


From  his  Tutor 

Eton,  Feb.  i,  1866. — Why  did  you  not  tell  me  you  had 
got  into  Balliol  ?  Dalmeny  told  me  of  it  just  now  :  and 
said  you  were  grown  too.  It  does  you  great  credit,  to 
persevere  after  a  repulse.  I  am  learning  Spanish,  and 
going  on  steadily  with  Itahan.     I  hope  to  go  to  Paris  at 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  19 

Easter.  Read  Italian  :  it  is  well  worth  while  to  spend 
£^  on  it,  when  you  are  grounded  in  French,  Don't  get 
into  debt,  whatever  you  do.  Have  at  least  an  hour  a  day 
alone,  however  sociable  you  may  be. 

He  went  into  residence  on  his  birthday,  Jan.  27,  1866. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  he  was  not  one  of  Jowett's  pupils ; 
and  that  Jowett  was  not  Master  of  Balliol  till  Sept.,  1870, 
only  three  months  before  Holland  left  BalHol  for  Christ 
Church. 

Eton  and  home  had  not  induced  him  to  work  steadily 
at  set  subjects  ;    but  they  had  given  him  everything  else 
for  his  University  Ufe.     His  tutor  at  Eton,   with  almost 
extravagant  affection  for  him,  had  taught  him  to  think  for 
himself,  to  take  a  wide  outlook,  to  find  his  way  up  in  history, 
literature,  and  music,  and  to  be  fearless  in  the  pursuit  of 
friendship    and    of    happiness.     Besides,    he    was    a    good 
aU-round  athlete.     Having  these  gifts,   and  coming  from 
Eton,  he  found  University  life  very  like  school  hfe.     The 
freshmen   who   came   from   lesser   schools,    and   from   dull 
homes,  might  find  Oxford  wonderful :    he  could  not.     His 
first  and  second  years  at  Balliol  did  not  do  much  for  him. 
Eton  friends  and  Eton  ways  were  all  round  him  :    Oxford 
was  hardly  more  than  Eton   over  again,    on   a   different 
stretch  of  the  same  river.     He  had  for  his  tutors  James 
Riddell — of  whom  T.  H.   Green  wrote,   "  one  of  the  best 
men  I  ever  knew  " — and,   after  Riddell's  death  in  Sept., 
1866,  Edwin  Palmer.     He  bought  the  usual  things,  attended 
the  usual  lectures,  went  to  hear  Pusey  and  Liddon,  and  so 
forth  :     but   these   two  years  were   a    time  of  uneventful 
waiting  ;  Oxford  waiting  for  him,  and  he  waiting  for  Oxford, 
but  without  any  definite   sense  that  he   was  waiting   for 
anything. 

In  the  summer  of  1866,  he  was  with  his  people  in  Switzer- 
land.    There  is  a  note  in  his  father's  diary  :  "  On  17  June, 


20  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

my  eldest  son  Henry  Scott  joined  our  party  at  Andermatt, 
having  walked  up  from  Fluellen,  and  as  usual  he  had  lost 
his  luggage.  ...  All  excursions  were  stopped  later  by 
the  illness  of  my  son,  who  unfortunately  was  seized  with 
the  fever  of  the  district,  and  who  suffered  for  six  weeks 
from  this  cause,  typhoid  :  his  Hfe  was  spared  mercifully  : 
at  one  time  of  the  fever  I  despaired."  In  the  summer  of 
1867,  he  and  Fremantle  and  Buckland  were  reading  in 
a  cottage  at  Dalmally  on  Loch  Awe.  Mr.  Buckland 
remembers  that  they  read  independently :  "  there  was  no 
tutoring.  Our  chief  amusements  were  bathing,  rowing 
on  the  lake,  taking  long  walks,  and  chmbing  the  hills.  My 
friends  seemed  to  have,  for  their  ages,  a  considerable  know- 
ledge of  theology  and  of  Church  matters,  so  that  in  the 
constant  discussions  on  such  subjects  I  found  myself  a 
respectful  Ustener  and  learner."  A  few  weeks  later,  Fre- 
mantle writes  to  Holland : 

I  have  practically  made  up  my  mind  to  take  orders, 
and  I  trust  that  lesser  obstacles  will  fade  away.  ...  I  can- 
not help  thinking  of  the  possibility  of  your  taking  orders 
— of  course  there  is  no  hurry  about  the  decision — but  it 
may  be  proposed  to  you  to  begin  to  "  eat  dinners  "  directly 
after  Mods.,  as  many  men  do  :  and  it  is  always  a  comfort, 
where  it  is  possible,  to  have  determined  one's  course  of 
hfe  beforehand.  ...  It  seems  to  me  that  you  would  be 
half  lost  in  the  ungracious  work  of  a  lawyer  :  there  was 
never  a  more  crying  want  for  clergymen  (especially  educated 
ones)  than  now ;  and  (it  is  a  grave  fact,  which  you  must 
not  shrink  from)  people  with  such  a  faith  and  love  of  God 
as  you  have  are  hardly  an3rvvhere  to  be  found  to  do  the 
Church's  work.  I  believe  you  would  enter  into  the  grand 
work  with  all  your  soul — and  you  must  not  wonder  at  my 
wanting  you  if  possible  to  take  orders.  Forgive  the  long 
rigmarole.     God  bless  you. 

Holland  had  said  that  an  eldest  son,  if  he  were  ordained, 
would  be  less  useful  to  his  brothers  and  sisters,  and  less 


FROM   1847  TO   1867  21 

apt  for  family  affairs.  Besides,  his  mother  had  wanted 
him  to  go  into  the  Foreign  Office  :  and  his  father  was 
strongly  opposed  to  his  taking  orders.  But  he  never  gave 
much  thought  to  any  other  calling.  In  his  letters  home, 
during  the  first  two  years  at  Oxford,  he  is  dogmatic  and 
intolerant  over  questions  of  rehgion :  he  has  absolute 
confidence,  but  he  is  repeating  what  he  has  read  or  heard : 
he  is  holding  his  position  on  the  authority  of  others,  he  has 
not  mastered  it  for  himself.  There  is  a  letter,  for  instance, 
in  June,  1867,  to  his  brother  Lawrence  at  Radley,  to  pre- 
pare him  for  his  Confirmation  and  first  Communion  : — 

It  is  the  body  and  blood  of  your  Saviour  which  are 
given  to  you,  the  same  which  really  hung  on  the  cross, 
given  spiritually,  you  know  not  how,  but  still  most  certainly 
given.  It  is  given  in  the  bread,  as  the  fire  in  the  coal :  the 
coal  is  not  changed,  but  the  flame  is  there  which  was  not 
there  before  ;  the  body  which  walked  the  earth  and  died 
on  Calvary  is  there,  in  the  bread,  mysteriously,  ineffably, 
but  most  certainly.  No  rehgion  which  doubted  those  words 
has  ever  influenced  mankind  to  purity  and  humiUty. 
Believe,  and  all  things  are  possible.  You  do  not  ask  how 
God  came  into  the  Virgin's  womb  ;  you  only  believe  and 
know  that  He  was  there.  .  .  .  The  Bishop  stands  before 
you  as  Jesus  Christ  on  earth  ;  he  has  received  the  full 
stream  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  Bethlehem  ;  St.  Peter's 
hand,  our  Lord's  hand,  have  touched  that  head  and  con- 
secrated those  hands  ;  a  real  living  power  shines  through 
them  and  passes  into  you. 

At  the  end  of  1867,  he  was  in  for  honours  in  Moderations  : 
a  long  and  rather  pedantic  examination,  mostly  in  Greek 
and  Latin,  requiring  strict  accuracy  of  grammar  and 
famiharity  with  set  books.  He  had  read  for  it,  but  had 
not  cared  for  it :  and  he  only  got  a  third  class.  On  Dec.  15, 
T.  H.  Green  writes  to  him,  "  I  am  extremely  sorry  and 
surprised  to  hear  of  your  break-down  in  Moderations.  I 
don't  at  all  know  how  it  happened,   and  don't  write  to 


22  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

commiserate  you,  but  to  express  a  hope  that  you  will  not 
allow  the  present  failure  to  discourage  you  in  reading  for 
the  final  schools,  in  which  I  should  expect  you  to  do  very 
well.  You  will  probably  find  it  much  more  congenial 
work  than  that  for  Mods.,  and  I  always  look  forward 
with  pleasure  to  the  office  of  instructing  you." 


II 

BALLIOL,    1868-187O 

He  took  his  disappointment  lightly  :  "  You  dear  Gruff," 
he  writes  to  Ady,  Dec.  16,  1867,  "  how  awfully  jolly  of  you 
to  write  to  me  about  those  beastly  schools.  I  would  be 
ploughed,  to  get  a  letter  hke  that.  I  ought  never  to  have 
been  such  an  idiot  as  to  think  that  I  could  succeed.  It 
serves  me  right."  Anyhow,  he  had  not  been  ploughed; 
Moderations  were  done  with :  and  Literae  Humaniores 
were  calling  to  him  to  come  and  study  them. 

At  Balliol,  he  twice  steered  the  College  Torpid,  and  three 
times  rowed  in  the  College  Eight.  He  won  the  high  jump 
at  the  College  Sports  :  "to  the  astonishment  of  everybody," 
Mr.  A.  G.  C.  Liddell  writes,  "as  he  had  never  shown  any 
jumping  capacities.  He  jumped  in  a  way  quite  his  own, 
not  the  orthodox  style,  but  taking  off  at  a  long  distance 
from  the  bar,  with  a  prodigious  bound  Uke  that  of  a  horse." 
Mr.  George  Horner  writes  that  "  he  jumped  hke  a  deer, 
and  quite  unscientifically."  Lord  Kilbracken,  who  went 
to  Balliol  in  the  autumn  of  1866,  writes  : — 

I  have  a  clear  recollection  of  Holland's  personal  appear- 
ance in  those  days  ;  he  was  tall  and  thin  ;  quick,  active, 
and  springy  in  all  his  movements  ;  his  arms  and  legs  seemed 
to  hang  rather  loosely  on  him.  I  can  see  him  now,  hurrying 
to  lecture  in  his  commoner's  gown — my  impression  of  him 
is  that  he  was  generally  in  a  hurry — or  at  the  College  barge 
in  his  red  blazer  and  white  flannels.     During  the  first  year 

23 


24  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

or  so  of  my  acquaintance  with  him,  I  hardly  thought  of 
him  as  "  a  reading  man  "  :  and  I  recollect  feeling  some 
little  surprise  at  the  great  disappointment  of  his  Eton 
friends  when  his  name  appeared  in  the  third  class  in 
Moderations.  The  fact,  of  course,  was  that  the  refine- 
ments of  classical  scholarship  did  not  appeal  to  him,  and  he 
probably  never  worked  heartily  so  long  as  he  was  pinned 
down  to  studies  not  very  different  from  those  at  Eton. 
But  the  moment  he  began  to  read  for  the  Final  Schools, 
everything  was  changed.  He  was  in  his  element,  and  it 
soon  became  known  that  he  was  among  the  most  promising 
candidates  for  honours  in  Greats.  Wordsworth  tells  us 
that  years  "  bring  the  philosophic  mind  "  :  but  it  is  certain 
that  some  men  are  born  with  the  philosophic  mind  ready- 
made,  and  equally  certain  that  Holland  was  one  of 
them.  .  .  . 

His  pen  was  very  nearly  as  fluent  and  effective  then  as 
it  was  in  after-Hfe,  and  his  gift  of 'writing  was  already  most 
remarkable.  Among  his  older  friends  in  the  University 
was  John  Conington,  Professor  of  Latin  ;  and  I  well  re- 
member the  admiration  wth  which  I  hstened  to  a  manu- 
script essay  of  Holland's,  which  Conington  had  somehow 
got  hold  of  and  read  aloud  to  me.  It  was  a  revelation  ; 
and  from  that  day  forward  I  was  certain  that  in  some  line 
of  life — I  did  not  then  know  which — he  must  become  a 
marked  man.  And  it  was  no  surprise  to  me  or  to  any  of 
his  friends,  when  he  not  only  got  his  first  class,  but  was 
reported  to  have  done  the  most  brilliant  set  of  papers  that 
had  been  seen  in  the  Schools  for  some  time. 

The  philosophy  then  fashionable  at  Oxford  was  that 
of  the  utihtarian  school  of  Mill :  while  T.  H.  Green,  who 
was  at  that  time  our  chief  teacher  of  philosophy  in  Balliol, 
was,  as  is  well  known,  the  exponent  of  a  very  different 
system,  of  a  more  spiritual  and  less  materialistic  kind, 
founded  upon  the  writings  of  Kant  and  Hegel.  To  these 
doctrines  Holland  was,  no  doubt,  naturally  predisposed  ; 
he  absorbed  them  readily  ;  and  it  was  thought  remarkable 
that,  this  being  so,  he  should  have  been  so  successful  in  an 
examination  conducted  mainly  by  adherents  of  the  opposite 
school  of  thought,  who  had  distinguished  themselves,  the 
year  before,  by  placing  Nettleship  in  the  second  class. 

Holland's  close  friendship  with  Nettleship  I  have  already 
mentioned ;    but  it  was  hardly  greater  than  that  which 


\V.  U.  Benson.  S.  D,  Darbishire. 

W.  Farrer.  B.  Entwistle. 

R.  L.  Nettleship. 


J.  Y.  Hay.  H.  S.  Holland. 

H.  W.  Primrose. 
F.  H.  Peters. 


THE    BALLIOL   EIGHT 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  25 

he  formed  with  Green,  whose  influence  upon  his  intellect 
and  character  was  profound,  and  endured,  unquestionably, 
till  the  end  of  his  hfe,  36  years  after  Green's  death. 

Also,  he  was  fond  of  the  Balliol  Shakespeare  Society ; 
it  used  to  meet  on  Sunday  evenings  and  read  the  plays  ; 
he  was  in  demand  for  the  women's  parts,  for  the  pleasant- 
ness of  his  voice  :  and  he  joined  the  choir  which  was  started 
in  1869  for  the  College  chapel.  In  athletics,  besides  rowing, 
he  excelled  in  racquets,  and  in  skating  :  and  near  the 
end  of  the  Michaelmas  Term,  1869,  he  broke  his  leg  at 
football,  and  came  back  to  BalUol  on  a  shutter.  Above 
all,  he  enjoyed  bathing ;  especially  the  dangerous  bathing 
in  Sandford  Lasher. 

During  these  three  years  of  his  life,  1868-1870,  it  is 
impossible  to  isolate  him  from  Green  and  Nettleship  and 
Fremantle.*  All  students  of  Holland's  Hfe  ought  to  read 
the  memoir  of  Green,  by  Nettleship,  in  the  third  volume 
of  Green's  collected  works  :  and  the  memoir  of  Nettleship, 
by   A.    C.    Bradley,    in    the    first    volume   of   Nettleship's 

*  Thomas  Hill  Green  :  bom  April  7,  1836.  Rugby  1 850-1 855.  Balliol 
1855  :  second  class  in  Moderations,  1857 :  first  class  in  Final  Schools 
(Literae  Humaniores),  1859:  lecturer  and  fellow  of  Balliol,  i860.  Chan- 
cellor's Prize  Essay,  1862.  Assistant-commissioner  of  education  in  middle- 
class  schools,  1865-66.  Married  Miss  Charlotte  Symonds,  sister  of 
J.  A.  Symonds,  in  1871.  Whyte  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy,  1878. 
Died  March  26,  1882.  His  chief  writings  are  his  Introductions  to  Hume's 
Treatise  of  Human  Nature,  1874-75  :  and  his  Prolegomena  to  Ethics, 
published  after  his  death. 

Richard  Lewis  Nettleship:  born  Dec.  17,  1846:  brother  of  Henry 
Nettleship,  Professor  of  Latin  in  Oxford  ;  of  John  Nettleship,  artist ; 
and  of  Edward  Nettleship,  ophthalmic  surgeon.  Uppingham  School. 
First  Entrance  Scholarship  at  BalUol,  1864.  Hertford  Scholar,  1866 : 
Ireland  Scholar,  1867  :  fellow  of  BalHol,  1869  :  Arnold  Prize  Essay,  1873  : 
lecturer  on  philosophy :  editor  of  Green's  collected  works.  Died  on 
Mont  Blanc,  Aug.  25,  1892. 

Stephen  James  Fremantle,  youngest  son  of  ist  Lord  Cottesloe.  Eton : 
Newcastle  Scholar,  1863  :  BalUol,  Entrance  Scholarship,  1865  :  first 
class  in  Final  Schools,  and  senior  studentship  at  Christ  Church,  1867, 
tutor  1870.  Ordained  deacon  1870,  priest  1871.  EUerton  Prize  Essay, 
1870  :   examining  chaplain  to  Bishop  of  Ely,  1871.     Died  Sept.  16,  1874. 


26  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

philosophical  lectures.  These  two  memoirs,  which  are 
both  of  them  admirable,  must  not  be  quoted  in  scraps  here. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Green  was  not  only  a  teacher 
of  philosophy,  he  was  also  a  reformer ;  one  of  the  very 
few  men  who  were  zealous  in  Oxford,  half  a  century  ago, 
for  the  improvement  of  popular  education,  for  temperance, 
and  for  purer  politics. 

But  no  man  dictated  to  Holland  what  he  should  believe, 
or  what  he  should  be.  He  was  under  conflicting  influences, 
which  left  their  mark  deep  on  him.  But  he  held  his  own 
way  through  them  all :  he  let  neither  Green,  nor  Nettleship, 
nor  Fremantle,  have  the  making  of  him. 

1868   {cBt.   21) 

At  the  end  of  the  Summer  Term,  he  and  A.  F.  Walter 
and  others  started  to  row  down  to  London  ;  sleeping  in 
the  fields  by  day,  and  rowing  by  night ;  but  they  did  not 
get  more  than  half-way.  In  August,  he  and  Fremantle 
were  reading  at  Bettws  y  Coed  ;  in  the  cottage,  Tyn-y-bryn, 
belonging  to  "the  beloved  aunt,"  Miss  Jane  Gifford ;  of 
whom  he  wrote  in  1874,  "  she  has  long  been  my  ideal  of 
womanhood  "  ;  and,  many  years  later,  "  she  and  I  have 
been  like  brother  and  sister." 

Nettleship  writes  to  him,  in  July  from  a  reading-party 
in  the  Lakes,  and  in  September  from  Kettering,  his  home  : 

I.  Rosthwaite,  July  29,  1868. — The  whole  thing  is 
perfectly  lovely  and  breathes  Wordsworth.  The  hills  are 
grander  than  I  expected,  but  it  is  all  very  pure  and  calm, 
with  his  sort  of  sublime  homeliness  about  it. 

I  agree  very  much  with  what  you  say  about  Jowett. 
I  think  you  hit  the  vital  point  when  you  say  that  it  won't 
do  against  bodily  passion.  But  then  don't  you  think 
the  people  to  whom  Jowett  rather  addresses  himself  are 
just  the  people  to  whom  bodily  passion  does  not  come  in 
a  very  serious  way  ?     I  mean  that  there  appear  to  be  a 


BALLIOL,   1868 -1870  27 

great  many  people  who  have  never  really  felt  what  it  is  to 
have  "  a  war  in  their  members."  They  have  perhaps  had 
to  work  hard  and  have  lived  in  decent  society  and  so  married 
and  begotten  children  without  ever  having  to  think  of 
the  body  as  anything  but  the  medium  of  a  certain  amount 
of  pleasure  which  there  is  no  harm  in  enjoying.  I  don't 
envy  them  their  immunity,  but  I  think  that  they  do  require 
some  principle  to  make  their  decent  commonplace  money- 
making  life  a  little  higher  if  possible  ;  and  it  is  such  a 
principle  that  Jowett  seems  to  me  to  preach,  the  principle 
of  recognising  something  divine  in  everything.  And  surely 
this  is  one  side  of  Christianity:  of  the  other  side,  "  Believe 
and  ye  shall  be  saved,"  Jowett  no  doubt  makes  very  Httle. 
I  hardly  dare  speak  on  a  subject  in  which  I  know  I  have 
got  such  a  httle  way,  but  are  not  the  two  sides  really  the 
same  ?  I  see,  however,  that  this  does  not  lessen  the 
difftculty,  for  you  would  say  that  they  are  both  absorbed 
in  "  Believe  and  ye  shall  be  saved."  To  take  the  most 
crucial  case,  what  is  the  answer  to  the  question  "  Who 
shall  dehver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  "  ?  I  don't 
know  whether  the  question  ever  forces  itself  on  you,  but  if 
it  does  you  must  have  answered  it  somehow.  I  quite  feel 
that  what  is  ordinarily  called  education  absolutely  fails 
in  such  a  case.  I  always  think  that  the  whole  question 
is  put  in  the  most  terribl}^  intense  way  in  the  words  "  Shall 
I  take  the  members  of  Christ  and  make  them  the  members 
of  an  harlot  ?  "  And  if  one  could  but  realise  even  a  little 
of  them,  they  could  not  help  being  like  a  refiner's  fire  to  him. 

But  here  again  I  am  afraid  you  will  realise  them  in  a 
different  way  from  me,  though  perhaps  the  difference  is 
only  external.  What  makes  the  thing  so  fearfully  hard 
is  a  good  deal,  I  think,  the  artificiality  of  society  :  here 
are  people  simpering  and  being  polite,  and  all  the  time 
perhaps  a  small  heaven  and  hell  going  on  inside  them, 
and  no  one  to  help  them  or  sympathise  with  them  or  even 
recognise  the  possibility  of  anything  except  uninterrupted 
respectability.  However — society  when  it  is  jolly  is  very 
jolly ;  only  sometimes  one  gets  gloomy  about  it,  and 
especially  on  this  particular  point  of  the  body. 

You  don't  mind  talking  about  these  things,  do  you  ? 
If  you  do,  please  tell  me  at  once.  Perhaps  it  doesn't  do 
much  good,  but  it  is  a  relief,  though  I'm  afraid  the  fact  of 
its  being  a  relief  shows  a  want  of  self-rehance. 


28  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

2.  Kettering,  Sept.  4,  1868. — I  must  write  once  more  : 
if  my  letter  interested  you  I  am  sure  yours  was  like  wine 
to  me.  Nothing  gives  me  more  strength  than  to  find 
some  one  who  has  felt  the  same  as  I  have  and  doesn't  mind 
talking  about  it.  It  isn't  often  that  I  do  find  any  one.  .  .  . 
I  am  in  a  haze  about  the  Eucharist — but  I  have  this  definite 
feehng  about  it,  that  whereas  now  it  is  usually  made  the 
stronghold  of  sectarianism,  it  ought  to  be  the  one  thing 
in  which  all  Christians  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  word  can 
meet  on  a  common  ground.  Knowing  so  little  as  I  do  of 
the  dogmatical  part  of  the  question,  it  may  be  fooUsh 
of  me  to  say  this,  but  I  feel  that  it  is  true  for  me.  But 
I  dare  not  say  that  I  find  it  the  single  and  sufficient  power 
able  to  kill  the  body  of  death.  And  yet  theoretically 
I  do  believe  that  the  indwelling  of  Christ  through  his 
Spirit  in  our  bodies,  the  being  bone  of  his  bone,  and  the 
hope  of  being  made  Uke  him,  are  the  powers  which  can 
keep  me  pure ;  and  I  also  think  that  the  Eucharist  does 
in  the  strongest  way  embody  all  these  ideas.  But  then 
there  are  times  when  this  belief  seems  to  be  drowned  in  the 
one  pervading  consciousness  of  animality.  There  is  the 
difference — you  find  in  the  beUef  an  external  and  palpable 
reality  face  to  face  with  the  external  and  palpable  reaUty 
of  the  body — I  do  not,  not  at  least  when  I  ought  most  to 
do  so.  It  is  this  that  sometimes  makes  me  feel  as  if  I 
should  Hke  to  rush  out  and  work  myself  to  death  in  a  coal- 
mine, or  go  in  for  St.  Anthony's  fine — anything  that  would 
break  through  aU  subtleties  at  one  coarse  blow.  Intel- 
lectually, Carlyle  is  my  resort :  I  think  he  ought  to  be 
pubhshed  in  volumes  "  for  the  waistcoat  pocket,"  that 
one  might  drink  of  him  whenever  one  felt  faint. 

...  I  hope  for  my  own  sake  that  you  will  go  to  the 
Bar  (though  I  certainly  think  you  ought  to  take  orders, 
and  even  then  perhaps  you  would  be  in  town)  but  it  would 
be  jolly  if  we  could  see  one  another  stiU  after  leaving  Oxford. 
We  had  a  most  happy  month  at  Rosthwaite,  though  I 
can't  say  we  did  as  much  work  as  we  intended.  However, 
I  got  through  the  text  of  Herodotus,  which  is  something  to 
say  one  has  done,  as  it  doesn't  appear  to  be  the  slightest 
use  for  the  schools — confound  them — I  can't  make  out 
for  the  fife  of  me  what  is  of  use  for  them.  I  also  attempted 
a  little  Grote,  but  what  a  beast  he  is  to  write  in  that  way, 
putting  poor  old  Herodotus  into  the  stocks  at  every  word 


BALLIOL,    1868-1870  29 

with  his  pedantry  and  woodenness  :  heaven  forbid  that 
I  should  have  to  read  much  of  him.  It  is  after  dinner 
and  I  have  been  hearing  some  Mozart.  He  is  pure,  if  you 
Hke.  Why  has  art  so  Httle  moral  effect  ?  It  is  always 
a  puzzle  to  me. 

In  December,  Nettleship  and  Holland  were  with  Green 
for  a  week  at  ShankUn.  "I  am  off  to-morrow,"  Holland 
writes  to  his  sister,  Dec.  14,  "  with  Green  the  don,  and 
Nettleship  my  famiHar  friend — one  of  my  greatest  possible 
friends ;  also  he  is  the  rising  young  man,  and  has  gained 
every  honour  the  University  can  pour  upon  him  :  he  com- 
bines three  Scholarships  in  his  single  person "  :  and  in 
future  years,  "  when  he  is  Lord  High  Chancellor,  Prime 
Minister,  and  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,"  Mrs.  Holland 
wiU  be  "  proud  to  say  she  once  had  his  legs  under  her  own 
mahogany "  :  for  Nettleship  and  Holland  were  coming 
back  to  Gayton  Lodge  together,  that  they  might  see  a 
BaUiol  friend  at  Roehampton,  who  had  been  received  into 
the  Roman  Church  and  was  preparing  to  enter  the  Order 
of  the  Jesuits. 

From  T.  H.  Green 

Dec.  29,  1868. — I  am  glad  that  you  and  Nettleship 
saw  Hopkins.  A  step  such  as  he  has  taken,  tho'  I  can't 
quite  admit  it  to  be  heroic,  must  needs  be  painful,  and  its 
pain  should  not  be  aggravated — as  it  is  pretty  sure  to  be 
— by  separation  from  old  friends.  I  never  had  his  in- 
timacy, but  always  hked  him  very  much.  I  imagine 
him — perhaps  uncharitably — to  be  one  of  those,  hke  his 
ideal  J.  H.  Newman,  who  instead  of  simply  opening  them- 
selves to  the  revelation  of  God  in  the  reasonable  world, 
are  fain  to  put  themselves  into  an  attitude — saintly,  it  is 
true,  but  still  an  attitude.  True  citizenship  "  as  unto  the 
Lord  "  (which  includes  all  morahty)  I  reckon  higher  than 
"  saintliness "  in  the  technical  sense.  The  "  superior 
young  man "  of  these  days,  however,  does  not  seem  to 
understand  it,  but  hugs  his  own  "  refined  pleasures  "  or 


30  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

(which  is  but  a  higher  form  of  the  same)  his  personal  sanctity. 
Whence,  and  not  from  heterodoxy,  ruin  threatens  Christian 
society. 

The  above  is  not  meant  to  edify  you,  but  is  merely  a 
vent  for  passing  irritation.  It  vexes  me  to  the  heart  to 
think  of  a  fine  nature  being  victimised  by  a  system  which 
in  my  "  historic  conscience  "  I  hold  to  be  subversive  of 
the  Family  and  the  State,  and  which  puts  the  service  of 
an  exceptional  institution,  or  the  saving  of  the  individual 
soul,  in  opposition  to  loyal  service  to  society. 

Holland  wrote  back,  "  I  will  try  and  digest  your  remarks 
on  Hopkins,  as  I  have  a  lurking  admiration  for  Jesuitry. 
In  cases  of  beneficent  monkery,  if  loyalty  to  Society  can 
be  kept  as  the  ruling  motive,  are  not  some  wants  of  Society 
only  to  be  supplied  by  institutions  of  ascetic  co-operation  ?  " 
This  careless  answer  drew  from  Green  a  full  statement  of 
his  thoughts  on  aaKncng,  training,  discipline  : — 

Jan.  9,  1869. — I  feel  a  certain  restlessness  till  I  have 
set  myself  right  with  you  on  the  matter  of  "  Jesuitry." 
Please  don't  suppose  that  I  am  against  "  ascetic  co- 
operation," as  such,  because  I  question  the  monastic  form 
of  it  and  wholly  demur  to  the  purposes  to  which,  as  a 
matter  of  history  and  as  a  consequence  of  the  Catholic 
theory,  it  has  been  applied  by  Jesuits.  I  am  all  for  aaKr]aig. 
The  notion  that  we  can  do  without  it  is  a  perversion  by 
philosophers,  who  don't  understand  their  philosophy, 
of  the  truth  that  "  the  real  is  the  rational."  So  it  is,  only 
for  us  it  is  being  made  rational,  and  this  process  for  the 
individual  must  involve  an  auK^aig.  How  far  this,  again, 
need  involve  detachment  from  personal  participation  in 
the  common  interests  of  life,  must  depend  upon  circum- 
stances :  but  for  many  in  these  days,  students  no  less  than 
"  priests,"  it  must  be  so.  Such  people  must  be  content 
with  the  converse  lot  of  Wordsworth's  poet,  and  "  under- 
stand the  things  which  others  enjoy."  For  co-operation 
every  one  goes  now-a-days  :  nor  am  I  less  for  religious 
co-operation ;  and  tho'  dogma  partially  secludes  some 
of  us  from  it  for  the  present,  I  don't  at  aU  acquiesce  in 
the  seclusion,   and  believe  that  it  may  be  overcome.     A 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  31 

morality  that  reflects  on  itself  must  needs  refer  itself  to 
God,  i.e.,  be  religious.  If  there  seems  now  to  be  a  reflective 
morality,  which  yet  is  not  religious,  this  is  not  really  un- 
religious,  but  its  religion  is  for  the  time  dumb  ;  and  this 
dumbness  mainly  results  from  the  action  of  philosophy  upon 
the  dogma  of  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ.  When  it  is 
found  that  this  dogma  (tho'  in  a  wrong,  because  dogmatic, 
form)  embodies  the  true  idea  of  the  relation  of  the  moral 
Ufe  to  God,  the  morality  of  speculative  men  will  find  its 
religious  tongue  again. 

If,  then,  I  question  the  monastic  form  of  ascetic  co- 
operation, it  is  because  (i)  I  doubt  whether  on  the  whole 
(tho'  it  may  have  some  special  uses)  it  is  the  right  form  for 
acting  either  on  the  luxury,  or  on  the  derangement  of 
family  life,  which  seem  to  be  the  ultimate  social  evils  of 
this  day.  What  the  sick  man  of  modern  society  wants  is 
regulated  diet ;  and  monasticism  at  best  only  offers  strong 
physic.  It  does  nothing  to  organise  hfe.  The  real  move- 
ment of  the  world  has  passed  it  by.  It  lets  the  muddy 
tide  have  its  way,  and  merely  picks  up  a  few  stones  thrown 
on  the  shore,  which  will  take  the  saintly  polish — not  without 
satisfaction  that  the  tide  should  be  as  muddy  as  it  is  by 
way  of  contrast.*  Nor  is  this  weakness  accidental.  It 
results  (2)  from  the  wrong  principle,  on  which,  historically, 
monasticism  rests,  of  the  antithesis  between  Church  and 
World,  the  religious  and  the  secular,  etc.  This  antithesis, 
doubtless,  had  its  work  to  do,  but  the  rational  movement 
of  mankind  has  got  beyond  it.  Just  so  far  as  ordinary 
reUgion,  "  CathoUc  "  or  "  Protestant,"  is  governed  by  it, 
it  loses  its  interest  for  the  fully-educated  citizen  of  the 
European  commonwealth,  to  lapse  into,  it  seems  to  me, 
at  best,  a  piece  of  spiritual  invahdishness.  Catholicism 
embodies  the  antithesis  in  its  most  objectionable  form, 
inasmuch  as  it  fixes  the  Divine,  falsely  opposed  to  the 
human,  in  a  definite  institution  claiming  supremacy  over 
secular  and  civil  interests,  and  represents  the  "  objective 

*  Eight  years  later,  March,  1877,  Holland  writes  to  W.  H.  Ady,  "  I 
read  an  interesting  letter  of  yours  to  Oakley  about  School  Board  elections, 
etc.  It  made  me  rather  wonder  whether  we  are  to  retire  from  the  big 
public  work  which  seems  to  bring-in  so  little,  as  you  imply.  Would  it 
not  be  a  retirement  ?  a  retreat  ?  I  always  recall  a  bitter  saying  of  Green's 
to  me  once,  about  our  being  content,  we  Xtian  priests,  to  go  into  a  corner 
of  the  beach  on  the  great  sea-shore,  and  polish  a  pebble  or  two  of  our  own." 


32  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

presence "  of  the  incarnate  God  as  a  sensual  presence 
in  the  sacraments  instead  of  a  moral  one  in  the  Chris- 
tian society,  and  makes  Him  speak  authoritatively  thro' 
the  priest  instead  of  rationally  thro'  the  educated  con- 
science. .  .  . 

I  can  fancy  that  to  speak  of  the  antithesis  between 
"  the  secular  and  the  rehgious  "  as  a  false  one  may  seem 
a  tedious  commonplace  in  presence  of  the  hfe  of  a  great 
city,  and  within  hearing  of  the  strife  of  tongues  talking 
themselves  into  atheism.  But  don't  let  us  put-to  the 
shutters  because  daylight  is  tedious,  noisy,  and  full  of  ugly 
sights.  If  one  thinks  the  matter  out,  does  it  not  appear 
that  mere  religious  agency  does  but  touch  the  surface  of 
our  modern  rottenness  ;  that  the  people  who  cry  "  Lord, 
Lord  "  do  no  wonderful  works  and  never  get  nearer  to  any 
organisation  of  Hfe ;  that  the  only  hope  hes  in  such 
"  secular  "  agency  and  "  human  "  philosophy  as  it  requires 
a  religious  zeal,  not  less  self-denying  and  much  more 
laboriously  thoughtful  than  that  of  the  monk,  to  bring 
into  action  ?  I  quite  admit  that  Protestantism,  as  hitherto 
organised,  scarcely  seems  able  to  deal  with  modern  life. 
Where  it  has  been  fairly  wrought  into  education  (as  it 
never  has  in  England),  and  where  hfe  has  continued  simple, 
it  does  very  well,  as  may  be  seen  in  Germany.  So  far, 
however,  it  has  not  been  able  to  moraUse  masses.  But 
Catholicism  can  throw  no  stones  at  it  in  this  respect.  At 
least  it  does  not  actually  oppose  the  longer  and  sounder 
methods  of  social  improvement,  as  Catholicism,  from  the 
exigencies  of  its  position,  has  done  and  still  does — witness 
Dupanloup's  denunciation  of  the  improvement  of  the 
education  of  women  in  France.  .  .  . 

Whether  the  outcome  will  be  new  forms  of  religious 
society  or  a  gradual  absorption  of  all  such  forms  in  simple 
rehgious  citizenship,  I  do  not  predict :  but  I  have  faith 
that  the  new  Christianity,  because  not  claiming  to  be 
special  or  exceptional  or  miraculous,  will  do  more  for  man- 
kind than  in  its  "  Catholic "  form,  hampered  by  false 
antagonisms,  it  has  ever  been  able  to  do. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  this  position  of  sitting  apart  and 
whisthng  for  some  new  organisation  in  posse  is  open  to 
much  chaff.  For  all  that,  what  Cromwell  used  to  call 
"  a  waiting  spirit "  is  the  highest.  It  is  more  manly, 
quietly  making  the  best  of  the  institutions  among  which 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  33 

one  finds  oneself,  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  foremost  ideas 
at  work  in  the  world,  than  out  of  terror  or  impatience  or 
even  saintly  aspiration  to  take  sides  with  a  Church,  or 
plunge  into  a  society,  resting  on  an  untenable  theory  and 
from  the  nature  of  the  case  unable  to  escape  from  the 
past.  ,  .  . 

I  don't  at  all  expect  my  particular  theological  nightcap 
to  fit  you,  any  more  than  my  boots,  but  I  want  you  to 
understand  its  cut.     Pray  stick  to  your  books. 


1869   (^^-  22) 
Holland  to  Legard 

I.  Jan.,  1869. — Your  "  place  "  [as  private  tutor  to  young 
Lord  de  Grey]  sounds  beautiful ;  think  what  an  opportunity 
for  you,  with  a  virgin  mind  to  impress  yours  into.  If  he 
had  been  at  any  other  school,  it  would  have  been  just 
tainted  by  a  savour  of  bad  classics,  useful  for  nothing, 
and  only  just  enough  to  spoil  it  for  an  able  tutor's  handling  : 
but  since  he  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  at  the  best  of 
schools,  without  being  stuffed  with  conceited  half-ignorance, 
he  knows  how  to  act  courteously,  to  be  kind  and  sociable, 
to  feel  what  would  be  offensive  to  him  in  such  a  tickhsh 
position  ;  how  to  receive  and  use  what  he  hears,  without 
any  priggishness :  to  be  unconscious  of  his  superiority 
in  rank,  and,  if  he  has  any  sense,  to  hate  the  snobbery  and 
the  truckling  which  he  will  get  at  every  other  part  of  his  life 
except  his  Eton  time  :  it  is  the  only  place  in  the  world, 
it  seems  to  me,  where  tufts  are  unknown.  If  you  find  all 
this  true,  don't  abuse  Eton  education. 

.  .  .  Jowler  [Jowett]  preached  yesterday  in  Chapel 
amidst  intense  excitement,  no  people  in  Chapel.  He 
looked  so  fatherly  and  beautiful  and  brought  out  the  best 
bell-Uke  silvern  voice  with  quite  rich  tones  that  he  had 
hitherto  hidden  in  the  depth  of  his  stomach,  and  preached 
the  most  lovely  little  practical  sermon  in  a  quite  perfect 
style  with  the  most  wonderful  grace.  I  have  only  said  all 
this  laud  in  anticipation  of  having  to  confess  that  though  I 
felt  how  beautiful  it  was  in  its  way,  it  was  most  unsatisf5dng 
to  me.  It  was  just  Platonism  flavoured  with  a  Uttle  Christian 
charity  :   Christianity  is  gutted  by  him  :   it  becomes  perfectly 


34  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

meaningless,  if  it  is  only  an  attempt  to  take  some  useful 
moral  hints  from  just  what  happens  to  strike  you  in  a  very 
good,  "  perhaps  I  may  be  excused  in  saying  "  a  Divine  Ufe. 
He  is  perfectly  self-sufficient ;  self-dependent,  without 
any  consciousness  of  anything  beyond  a  certain  human 
weakness  in  carr3dng  out  his  ideal ;  there  is  not  an  atom 
of  the  feeling  of  prayer,  of  communication  with  God,  of 
reliance  on  any  one  but  self.  He  even  begs  pardon  for  using 
as  vague  an  expression  as  "  sharing  in  the  Spirit  of  God." 
I  admire  the  Symposium  with  all  my  heart  and  soul ;  but 
I  must  have  something  more  to  have  brought  God  down 
to  death  to  procure  for  me. 

2.  March,  i86g. — I  meant  prayer  morally  in  the  case 
of  Jowler,  meaning  the  consciousness  of  the  want  of  prayer. 
Prayer  about  material  things  is  full  of  difficulties  to  me. 
Whatever  way  you  expect  God  to  work,  it  will  be  by  physical 
causes  producing  physical  effects  :  our  question  is,  who 
brought  about  the  physical  cause  ?  Science,  far  from 
giving  the  real  cause,  seems  to  give  nothing  but  a  chain  of 
effects.  However  long  a  string  it  may  make  of  them 
following  each  other,  there  is  no  mention  of  any  reason  for 
their  doing  what  they  do  :  except  that  it  allows  that  some 
one  must  originally  have  set  it  all  going  by  rigid  laws, 
retiring  himself  into  private  life.  Now  this  seems  to  me 
perfectly  monstrous.  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and 
I  work,"  every  minute,  not  omitting  the  Sabbath.  The 
world  is  the  ever-living  garment  of  God  :  it  is  the  expression 
of  his  working  thought,  his  energy  :  it  is  his  language  to 
man  :  it  is  relative  to  man  as  to  God.  Laws  of  Nature  are 
the  interchange  of  his  mind  and  ours  :  he  is  ever  expressing 
in  infinite  variety  his  essential  qualities,  which  are  lasting, 
permanent :  our  minds  are  of  the  same  quality,  and  can 
only  grasp  this  variety  of  sensation  by  the  permanent 
character  stamped  upon  it  by  his  mind  and  acknowledged 
by  ours.  By  law  we  twain  communicate  in  the  highest 
parts  of  our  nature. 

3.  July,  1869. — I  spent  a  beautiful  racketing  fortnight 
in  London  :  oceans  of  music,  and  heaps  of  pictures,  and  such 
a  lot  of  people  and  horses  and  carriages,  which  things  are 
tremendously  exciting.  Oh  !  such  an  opera  for  our  last 
night,  Don  Giovanni,  beating  everything  I  had  ever  I 
expected  of  blackguardism  and  loveliness  :  such  melody 
has  never  been  written  since,  or  ever  will  be. 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  35 

Fremantle  to  Holland 

Swanbourne,  Easter  Dciy,  1869. — How  very  wrong  of 
you  not  to  write.  Really  it  would  be  kinder  if  you  wrote 
sooner.  You  know  it  is  hard  not  to  think  a  Httle  of  it, 
when  you  promised  to  write  first  and  I  have  been  expecting 
a  letter.  I  hope  you  are  taking  life  easily :  you  had  got 
rather  too  much  into  the  way  of  sitting  up  talking,  I  suspect, 
and  not  getting  good  nights  :  perhaps  there  is  self-denial 
to  be  exercised  in  going  to  bed,  when  it  seems  jolher  and 
more  improving  to  be  up  and  talking  or  reading.  Do 
you  remember  that  letter  of  my  tutor's  to  you,  advising 
you  to  get  an  hour  a  day  alone  ?  Isn't  it  rather  a  tear 
and  bustle  at  Oxford,  that  reading  for  Greats,  and  Torpids, 
and  racquets,  and  dinners,  and  then  all  the  great  things 
that  one  begins  to  think  about — theories  of  Church  and 
State,  and  difficulties  of  rehgion,  and  philosophical  puzzles  ? 
intensely  engrossing,  and  that  is  why  one  wants  sometimes 
to  be  able  to  be  quiet  and  think  of  one  thing  at  a  time. 

Always,  there  was  in  Fremantle  this  anxiety  over 
Holland,  this  nervous  longing  to  put  him  on  his  guard 
against  himself  and  to  make  him  perfect.  It  was  Fre- 
mantle's  way  with  his  friends  :  he  must  be  as  careful  of 
them  as  of  himself.  He  was  senior  to  HoUand ;  he  had 
been  Newcastle  Scholar  at  Eton ;  he  preceded  Holland 
from  Eton  to  Balliol,  and  through  the  Schools,  and  from 
BalUol  to  Christ  Church,  and  to  ordination.  He  had  not  that 
intellectual  and  imaginative  power  which  was  in  Holland. 
He  was  fairly  strong  and  active  ;  but  he  was  watchful  of 
his  health,  and  had  not  Holland's  everlasting  deUght  in 
his  own  existence.  He  was  gentle,  sensitive,  deUberate  ; 
quietly  practical,  dehcately  scrupulous,  vigilant  over  all 
his  motives  and  tendencies,  though  they  hardly  needed 
so  much  vigilance  ;  strict  in  the  observances  of  religion, 
submissive  to  authority,  and  set,  heart  and  soul,  on  the 
attainment  of  spiritual  gifts.  Always,  he  was  on  the  side 
of   self-examination,    self-distrust,    self-restraint.     There   is 


36  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

a  story  of  the  Newquay  reading-party  in  1874 — the  mid- 
day meal,  and  Holland  uncovering  an  ill-looking  dish  of 
mince,  and  sa5ring,  "  Bah,  how  filthy  !  beg  pardon,  Fre  : 
Benedidus  henedicat  " — objurgating  and  blessing  the  mince 
with  impartial  haste  :  Fremantle  would  have  blessed  it 
before  criticising  it.  His  letters  to  Holland  are  wearisome 
with  their  praise  of  rule  and  method,  their  insistence  on 
the  fact  that  Holland  is  too  "  natural,"  *  too  ready  to  suit 
himself  to  his  company,  and  to  take  the  world  as  he  finds 
it :  and  there  are  signs,  now  and  again,  of  mere  querulous- 
ness,  or  of  half -jealousy  that  Holland  is  leaving  him  out. 
Little  reproofs,  hints,  trivial  bits  of  advice,  httle  affectionate 
phrases,  from  which  the  life  departed  long  ago,  are  in  his 
letters.  But  there  was  stronger  stuff  in  him.  The  limita- 
tions of  his  range  are  plain  enough  :  he  was  unadventurous, 
he  was  unwisely  timid  over  Holland's  paradoxes  and 
audacities,  he  was  frightened  lest  Holland  should  come  to 
be  too  fond  of  metaphysics  :  but  there  are  no  such  Hmits 
to  his  dutifulness,  humility,  loyalty  to  his  friends,  and 
incessant  recognition  of  the  presence  of  God  in  his  daily 
life.  Their  friendship  had  begun  at  Eton,  and  was  increased 
by  every  year  at  Oxford.  And  it  must  be  measured,  not 
only  by  the  years  which  they  had  together,  but  by  the  years 
in  which  Fremantle,  after  his  death,  was  still  one  of  the 
factors  of  Holland's  life. 

In  the   Summer  Term,    1869,   Nettleship  and  Holland 
were  in  lodgings,  56  St.  Giles'  ;    at  the  end  of    the  term 

*  Holland  to  Fremantle,  June  20, 1872.  I  cannot  understand  the  mystery 
these  dear  good  people  find  in  the  ways  of  an  evil  world  under  a  good  God 
— it  is  all  natural  to  me ;  a  result  of  physical  mechanism,  of  natural  law ; 
I  see  no  need  to  suppose  it  might  be  otherwise.  ...  I  have  that  sort  of 
disposition  to  which  nothing  comes  amiss :  I  do  not  feel  the  slightest  tinge 
of  desire  or  expectation  that  things  should  be  otherwise  than  they  are — • 
and  yet  I  see  that  faith  in  a  good  God  may  be  defined  as  "  faith  in  things 
being  otherwise  somewhere,"  "faith  in  a  goodness  balancing  this  evil." 
Life  never  strikes  me  as  odd,  out  of  order,  disturbing :  except  in  gross 
cases  which  do  not  aiiect  me,  as  it  happens. 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  37 

Nettleship  was  in  for  Greats,  and  the  benighted  examiners 
gave  him  only  a  second  class.  One  of  his  friends  describes 
how  Jowett  asked  them  for  an  explanation  :  they  said 
that  he  had  not  done  well  in  philosophy  :  Jowett  told  them 
that  Nettleship  knew  more  philosophy  than  all  of  them 
together. 

Nettleship  to  Holland 

June  20,  1869.  Kettering. — It  seems  as  if  one  ought 
to  say  something  at  the  end  of  a  term  hke  last,  and  in 
London  I  could  not  say  much.  To  say  that  it  was  very 
very  happy  is  not  to  say  much.  It  was  only  my  fault  that 
there  was  an5rthing  at  all  to  mar  or  cast  a  shadow  on  it. 
I  know  you  are  much  too  good  to  think  about  these  things, 
and  I  know  too  that  it  is  poor  work  talking  and  regretting 
when  it  is  too  late. 

But  however  much  I  hate  myself  for  having  let  my 
own  wretched  troubles  come  to  the  surface,  in  time  to  come, 
when  perhaps  we  shall  never  be  together  again  as  we  have 
been,  I  shall  keep  hold  of  memories  of  this  time — memories 
of  walks  together  under  the  stars — memories  of  water  and 
green  trees  and  gardens  and  sunny  streets  enjoyed  together 
— memories  of  music  and  poetry  and  nightingales  drunk 
in  together — memories  of  everyday  joys  and  sorrows 
idealised  together — memories  of  God  approached  together 
— memories  of  hfe  and  death,  sin  and  holiness,  depths  and 
heights,  talked  about,  dreamed  about,  wondered  at,  together, 
in  the  communion  of  souls. 

And  so  one  part  of  Oxford  hfe  has  ended  in  a  second — 
and  all  this.  I  can  almost  thank  the  second  for  making 
a  httle  mark  to  measure  the  tide  by — that  tide  of  love  which 
has  always  seemed  reaching  its  height  but  has  never  yet 
reached  it,  and  must  now  go  on  rising  higher  and  higher, 
deeper  and  deeper,  till  we  die.  Words  are  foolish  things. 
Monk,  but  you  will  understand  them  and  make  the  fooHsh- 
ness  into  something  better. 

In  July,  Holland  was  on  a  reading-party  at  Skelgill, 
near  Keswick,  with  Fremantle,  Ady,  Phihp  Lee,  and  A.  F. 
Walter.     After    Skelgill,    Nettleship    and    HoUand    had    a 


38  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

walking-tour  in  North  Wales ;    then  the  Wye  valley,  and 
Tintern. 

Holland  to  Legard 

You  may  talk  about  Milan  till  you  are  black  in  the  face  : 
but  you  will  never  know  what  a  church  can  be  till  you  have 
been  to  that  abbey  on  the  Wye.  It  is  ridiculous  to  call 
it  a  ruin  :  it  is  in  far  better  order  than  most  cathedrals 
I  have  been  to  :  and  even  if  it  has  no  roof,  or  pavement, 
or  oak  stalls,  or  choristers,  the  blue  sky  covers  it,  and  the 
green  grass  enamels  it,  the  hanging  ivy  drapes  it,  and  the 
birds  carol  and  chant  in  it :  for  the  rest,  the  mouldings 
are  as  clean  as  the  day  they  were  cut,  the  gables  and 
mullions  are  whole  and  upright  as  ever,  framing  woods 
and  clouds  brighter  than  ever  glass  was  coloured,  the  stones 
are  all  smooth  and  unworn,  stained  with  all  the  mellow 
purple  glow  that  time  and  weather  can  give  them,  without 
any  of  the  green,  greasy  darkness,  and  dirt  of  mouldering 
whitewash  that  usually  remind  one  that  good  Queen  Anne, 
tho'  indeed  dead  now,  certainly  did  hve  once  ;  only  the 
four  great  gables  seem  to  remember  the  glories  they  have 
known,  and  stand  up,  reft  of  their  roof,  to  protest  against 
the  desecration  they  have  been  put  to  by  a  corpulent, 
covetous  wife-butcher.  The  whole  stands  among  the 
hills  like  a  visible  hymn,  a  prayer  that  has  taken  bodily 
shape.  The  shock  was  to  find,  when  we  went  out  to  bathe 
our  shining  Umbs  where  "  sylvan  Wye  "  still,  as  we  thought, 
"  to  matins  joined  a  mournful  voice  nor  failed  at  evensong," 
that  it  is  a  nasty,  dirty,  foul,  mud-banked  tide-river, 
looking  Hke  the  Thames  at  Barking,  so  filthy  that  we  dared 
not  go  in. 

Nettleship  to  Holland 

Sept.  4,  1869.  Kettering. — Well,  and  so  it  is  all  over, 
Monk.  You  know  well  enough  what  it  has  been  to  me, 
more  bright,  more  happy,  even  than  1  had  hoped  :  and  that 
is  saying  very  much.  I  shall  think  of  it  often  and  often — 
so  will  you  :  of  that  quiet  evening  lake,  set  in  the  meadows, 
and  watched  over  by  the  mountains — of  those  brown  and 
amber  rivers,  gliding  over  the  rocks,  festooned  with  birches 
and  ferns^-of  Snowdon,  standing  up  like  a  king,  with  the 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  39 

incense-clouds  rising  at  his  feet  and  veiling  his  face — of  the 
hills  sloping  purple  in  the  sunset  and  quivering  black  in 
the  moonht  river — of  the  valleys  opening  out  their  green 
arms  to  the  sea — of  Tintern,  standing  grey  and  ghostly, 
with  ceiling  and  windows  of  sky  and  pavement  of  grass, 
speaking  amid  the  silent  woods — of  purple  heather  and  golden 
furze  steeped  in  sunHght — of  a  great  and  awful  moon, 
brooding  over  dim  woods  and  valleys — of  these  and  much 
more  we  shall  think,  when  the  "burden  of  the  mystery" 
weighs  heavy,  when  "  the  mortal  body  presses  down  the 
immortal  soul,"  when  the  world  looks  all  grey  and  weary 
— then  we  shall  think  of  them,  and  remember  that  we 
looked  at  them  together. 

In  September,  Nettleship  was  reading  for  a  Fellowship 
at  Balliol.  He  writes  to  Holland  on  the  question,  How 
was  it  possible  that  Christ  should  be  subject  to  temptation  ? 
Possibly,  he  says,  Christ  bore  not  isolated  or  individual 
temptations,  such  as  come  to  every  man,  but  the  "  accumula- 
tion and  concentration "  of  all  temptations,  the  "  very 
and  undivided  essence  "  of  sinful  nature  : — 

And  so,  out  of  that  great  face-to-face  struggle  came, 
not  isolated  and  personal  precepts,  but  words  hke  stars, 
centres  of  light  and  hfe — "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart, 
for  they  shall  see  God," — and  "  Whoso  looketh  after  a 
woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with 
her  akeady  in  his  heart  " — words  going  to  the  deeps  of 
every  heart,  and  revealing  in  their  great  cahn  strength 
ghmpses  of  a  struggle  such  as  no  mortal  man  could  have 
met  and  hved.     Do  you  think  this  is  any  good  ?  .  .  . 

I  hope,  old  boy,  you  are  not  setting  your  heart  too  much 
on  the  fellowship  :  from  a  common-sense  point  of  view 
I  don't  think  I  ought  to  have  a  better  chance  than  several 
other  men.  But  don't  be  afraid,  I  will  do  my  best :  with 
a  view  to  which  I  am  at  present  endeavouring  to  con- 
centrate my  wandering  thoughts  on  a  fine  medley  of  subjects, 
including  Hegel's  iEsthetik,  Comte's  Positive  Philosophy, 
Sismondi's  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Gibbon,  Latin  Prose, 
Sappho  ;  also  Voltaire's  Charles  XII,  in  order  to  secure  the 
latest  French  tip  from  the  Revue  des  deux  Mondes,     There  I 


40  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

About  September,  Holland  writes  to  his  mother  of  a 
visit  to  Conington  :  and  of  his  decision  to  take  orders. 
The  visit  was  not  long  before  Conington' s  death,  on  Oct. 
23,  after  a  few  days'  illness.*  "  Conington  overwhelmed 
me  with  affection  :  he  lives  a  lonely  Ufe  for  the  sake  of  his 
poor  old  mother,  and  so  longs  for  some  one  to  be  with  him  : 
he  is  somehow  very  fond  of  me,  and  throws  all  his  affection 
on  his  younger  friends.  .  .  .  Dear  old  Mother,  I  do  not 
the  least  repent  my  choice,  but  I  do  feel  sometimes  half 
afraid  of  the  questions  that  I  shall  have  to  answer  as  a 
parson  :  it  is  such  an  eventful  time,  and  I  shall  have  to 
break,  I  fear,  with  many  of  my  friends  here,  when  it  comes 
to  taking  an  active  part  in  these  fights  and  struggles.  Any- 
how I  shall  be  sure  of  home  sympathy." 

In  October,  there  are  two  letters  from  Green,  commenting 
on  essays  which  Holland  had  written  for  him. 

I.  I  am  heartily  ashamed  of  myself  for  being  so  slow 
in  thanking  you  for  your  letter  and  the  essay.  The  reason 
of  the  delay,  I  believe,  has  been  that  in  my  anxiety  for  the 
latter  to  prove  good  I  felt  a  sort  of  unwillingness  to  look  at 
it — even  as  the  northern  farmer  will  not  look  at  his  weather- 
glass in  harvest-time,  lest  he  should  find  it  falling.  How- 
ever, a  return  to  Oxford  has  brought  me  to  a  sense  of 
responsibihty.  Your  discourse  pleases  me  very  much. 
I    think   you   really   have   the  "speculative"  intelligence, 

*  There  is  a  long  letter  to  Holland,  Oct.  6,  1869,  from  Conington  : 
it  is  concerned  with  the  translation  of  the  ^neid  ;  with  the  contrast 
between  BaUiol  and  Keble ;  and  with  Nettleship's  BalUol  Fellowship. 
And  he  says  to  Holland,  "  To  have  gained  you  is  one  of  the  chief  reasons 
for  thankfulness  which  I  note  in  reviewing,  more  meo,  what  the  past  twelve- 
month has  done  for  me :  and  as  I  think  how  ignorant  I  was,  on  yesterday 
of  last  year,  that  we  should  ever  be  anything  to  each  other,  I  feel  a  new 
reason  for  looking  on  to  the  future  trustfully,  not,  as  I  am  apt  to  do, 
despondingly.  .  .  ..  There  is  one  topic  on  which  you  keep  unaccountably 
silent,  Courthope's  poem  [Ludibria  Lunae].  Is  it  that  the  Keswick  book- 
sellers were  absolutely  unable  to  get  it  for  you  ?  or  that  you  were  afraid 
to  break  ground  on  it  while  engaged  in  your  mechanical  course  of  mental 
training  ?  There  is  no  subject  on  which  I  hear  you  with  more  satisfaction 
than  on  literature." 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  41 

and  if  you  care  to  attend  to  such  subjects  at  all  continuously, 
you  may  get  an  unusual  hold  of  them.  My  only  fear  is 
lest  you  should  not  work  your  thoughts  out  with  sufficient 
clearness,  and  for  lack  of  this  should  take  refuge  in  tropes 
(which  you  work  exceedingly  well)  or  in  prostration  before 
a  "  PrincipaHty  or  Power "  which  is  not  the  true  Qebg 
vorjTOQ.  [God  to  be  found  in  thought].  I  trust  you  not 
to  take  this  last  remark  amiss.  Of  course  you  must  follow 
your  own  leading ;  but  it  can  scarcely  be  helped  that 
a  special  regard  for  any  one  should  result  in  an  involuntary 
and  unreasonable  desire  to  bring  him  to  one's  own  way 
of  looking  at  things. 

I  defer  detailed  criticism  till  we  meet.  For  practical 
purposes,  i.e.  with  a  view  to  a  first  class — which  you  really 
must  get — you  ought  to  famiharise  yourself  with  the  sort 
of  logic  and  psychology  which  is  famihar  to  examiners 
and  which  perhaps,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  alone 
available  in  examination,  since  an  examination  means 
that  one  cuts  one's  mind  into  scraps.  In  brief,  you  must  get 
up  Mill.  You  will  find  it  a  very  good  disciphne.  You  should 
also  keep  Schools  questions  constantly  before  you  and  be 
always  thinking  how  you  would  answer  them.  If  this  is  a 
humihation,  it  will  only  last  7  months.  You  must  also 
learn  to  shp  the  essay  style,  on  occasion,  for  the  "  dodgy  " 
examination  style.  Finally,  be  diUgent  in  getting  available 
information  about  philosophy  and  history,  and  keep  it 
together  by  means  of  concise  summaries  and  notes.  Will 
you  write  something  more  for  me  against  the  time  when 
you  come  up,  or  before  ? 

.  .  .  When  you  get  to  work  with  the  "  suffering  classes," 
you  wiU  despise  my  easy  Hfe.  Somebody  must  Uve  it, 
however,  nor  will  it  be  too  late  to  abandon  it  and  take 
a  turn  with  the  suffering  classes,  when  7  years  are  past. 
If  only  certain  books  will  get  themselves  written  in  the 
interval,  this  will  make  up  for  some  loss  of  the  unction 
spiritual  in  the  individual.  Towards  my  refutation  of 
the  empirical  psychology  in  the  person  of  Hume  I  have 
as  yet  only  laid  the  foundation  in  a  close  critical  account 
of  Locke.  His  hash  I  seem  to  myself  to  have  pretty  weU 
settled :  whether  J.  S.  Mill  will  think  so  is  another 
question. 

I  am  in  much  contentment  at  Temple's  Episcopacy, 
mainly  for  the  reason  that  it  gives  him  a  stump  and  that 


42  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

he  strikes  me  as  being  better  worth  hearing  either  on  poHtics 
or  the  Christian  Hfe  than  any  one  else  before  the  pubHc. 
When  you  are  a  "  parson,"  I  trust  that  you  will  possess  your 
soul  in  seclusion  from  Congresses.  The  proceedings  at 
Liverpool  elicit  all  my  dangerous  nature  against  AngUcan 
Churchmen.  It  will  require  a  long  pull  at  St.  Paul  to  get 
over  the  effects  of  it. 

2.  "  Culture  "  and  the  "  International  "  present  them- 
selves to  me  as  due  to  the  same  disease  of  modern  hfe  as 
the  High-Church  revival.  I  don't  mean  by  this  either  to 
put  aU  three  on  a  level,  or  to  imply  their  condemnation. 
I  regard  the  "  Church  "  as  having,  in  virtue  of  the  ideas 
which  it  retains  from  the  New  Testament,  a  much  higher 
and  truer  Gospel  for  the  individual  than  either  "  Culture  " 
or  the  "  International  "  :  and  when  I  speak  of  them  as  due 
to  a  disease,  I  quite  admit  that  in  a  sense  all  human  Hfe  is 
a  disease,  and  that  any  system  which  is  to  do  good  to  man 
must  be  adapted  to  the  present  stage  of  the  disease.  But 
no  recognition  of  the  good  present  effect  of  any  mode  of 
sentiment  or  discipline  can  reconcile  one  to  it  when  one 
finds  it  resting  on  doctrines  that  seem  untrue.  And  what 
strikes  me  as  most  conspicuously  lacking  in  the  best  writing 
of  Churchmen  that  I  come  across  is  any  attempt  to  meet 
the  objection  that  their  distinctive  doctrine  is  untrue. 
They  are  very  successful  in  adapting  it  to  the  spirit,  and 
showing  that  it  will  meet  the  wants,  of  the  age  ;  but  they 
scarcely  seem  aware  that  all  this  makes  no  difference  to 
those  whose  first  interest  is  in  truth. 

This  remark,  however,  has  no  bearing  on  your  essay, 
which  was  written  not  for  opponents  but  for  friends.  It 
is  a  great  blessing  for  you  (you  must  forgive  my  speaking 
from  an  outside  point  of  view)  to  be  able  to  sympathize 
and  work  with  a  great  religious  society,  and  it  is  pure  good, 
in  which  every  one  not  cynical  must  rejoice,  that  such  a 
society  should  have  so  much  high  thinking  breathed  into 
it  as  is  forthcoming  from  men  hke  you.  I  think  you  have 
a  noble  mission  before  you  and,  in  spite  of  my  "  Protestant 
enthusiasm,"  I  shall  take  silent  delight  in  watching  it. 
When  the  bother  of  the  opening  of  Term  is  over,  we  must 
have  a  walk.     Yr.  affect.  T.  H.  Green. 

In  December,  Green  invited  him  to  come  again  to  the 
Isle  of  Wight :    "  Your  company  is  always  a  deHght  to  me, 


BALLIOL,  1868-1870  43 

and  I  should  like  to  try  to  give  you  some  bond  fide  coaching 
in  the  evenings,  for  which  I  have  not  time  during  Term.  .  .  . 
I  have  nothing  so  much  at  heart  as  that  you  should  get  a 
Fellowship.  It  is  a  great  gain  to  have  leisure  for  study 
and  turning  things  over  in  one's  mind  before  entering  on 
a  profession,  especially  if  it  is  to  be  clerical.  It  would 
not  seem  indeed  that  Oxford  just  now  is  very  favourable 
to  calmness  of  view — judging  at  least  from  some  letters 
about  Tests  that  I  have  been  reading — but  that  depends 
on  the  way  one  uses  it.  According  to  my  experience, 
there  is  no  place  where  one  can  keep  so  remote  from  irritation 
whether  by  the  enUghtened  or  by  priests." 

Nettleship  to  Holland 

I,  Dec.  13,  1869. — Every  term  we  are  together  seems 
somehow  to  crowd  into  itself  more  than  the  term  before  it, 
and  yet  it  is  very  hard  to  express  what  it  is  that  makes 
them  seem  so  great :  I  mean  the  feehng  is  so  strong  and  the 
inner  consciousness  so  intense  and  active  all  the  time  with 
me,  that  words,  especially  in  a  letter,  seem  almost  a  mockery. 
It  isn't  any  want  of  sympathy  :  I  know  we  always  have 
that,  don't  we  ?  I  know  we  think  of  each  other,  and 
live  each  other's  lives.  It  is  only  the  having  got  so  far, 
so  very  far  beyond  anything  I  ever  dreamed  of,  that  makes 
me  sometimes  long  to  get  further,  long  to  find  freer  expression. 
But  it  is  a  foolish  longing ;  one  might  as  well  long  to  be 
a  poet — for  that  is  what  it  comes  to.  Not  being  a  poet, 
I  know,  and  ought  to  be  satisfied  with  knowing,  that  the 
very  deepest  spiritual  communion  is  only  possible  now  and 
then,  when  the  great  dividing  stream  of  the  world  is  bridged 
over  for  the  time,  and  souls  can  come  close  to  each  other. 
And  we  have  come  very  close  this  term,  very  close.  Death 
is  a  fearful  thing,  and  there  is  a  cloud  of  death  over  the 
term  ;  but  love  is  stronger  than  death,  and  can  look  into 
it  and  through  it,  and  see  the  Hght  of  Hfe  beyond.  I  don't 
Hke  to  talk  much  to  you  about  John  Conington,  for  I  know 
I  cannot  say  anything  that  you  have  not  said  to  yourself, 
nor  shew  you  the  light  so  well  as  you  can  shew  yourself. 
But,  O  Monk,  if  ever  it  is  jolly  to  you  to  talk  about  it,  you 


44  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

will,  won't  you  ?  If  you  cannot  let  me  be  with  you  in  all 
things,  I  am  sure  you  can  in  this. 

"  They  that  are  dead  are  free  from  sin."  Mustn't  they 
be  happy  ? 

I  wish  you  were  here  to  say  good  night  to  :  the  room 
looks  Uke  the  swept-and-garnished  soul  without  you — 
but  I  dare  say  there  is  enough  of  you  here  still  to  keep  out 
the  seven  devils. 

2.  (A  few  days  later).  I  am  going  to  bore  you  again 
with  more  effusiveness,  but  it  doesn't  come  very  often, 
and  you  needn't  answer  it  oftener  than  you  like.  Last 
Tuesday  night  I  could  not  get  to  sleep  for  thinking,  and  at 
last  at  3  o'clock  I  got  up  and  wrote  this  : — 

"  I  have  thought  a  great  deal  latterly  (and  I  suppose  you 
must  have  too)  on  what  are  called  our  religious  differences. 
Indeed  after  what  we  said  together  that  night  this  term 
there  needs  no  more  to  be  said,  but  it  is  a  relief  to  me  to 
say  it  more  fully.  It  would  be  a  terrible  thought,  it  has 
sometimes  been  a  terrible  thought  with  me,  that  we  who  are 
so  knit  together  in  all  else  should  have  that  one  link  in  the 
chain  missing  on  which  all  the  others  must  really  hang. 
As  I  have  said,  I  think  our  only  choice  lies  between  absolute 
separation  and  absolute  communion ;  we  cannot  endure 
anything  between  :  and  we  have  made  our  choice.  All 
I  want  to  do  is  to  look  the  worst  in  the  face.  I  cannot 
help  seeing  that  my  historical  view  of  Christianity,  as  it 
gets  more  formed  (if  it  ever  does  get)  v/ill  almost  necessarily 
differ  in  some  points  from  yours.  I  also  cannot  help  seeing 
that  we  may  very  hkely  be  forced  into  parties  which  look 
upon  each  other  as  enemies,  for  this  seems  to  be  the  way 
with  Christians  nowadays.  And  so  it  may  be  that  outsiders 
will  say  our  friendship  is  temporising  and  a  compromise. 
There — now  I  have  put  the  worst,  and  all  I  want  to  say  is 
this,  that  I  know  and  am  sure  and  you  know  and  are  sure 
that  we  shall  always  have  a  bond  of  communion,  which 
all  this  and  more  than  this  cannot  weaken,  but  must  rather 
strengthen.  We  know,  I  say,  that  our  love  is  its  own 
sufficient  warrant  for  its  truth.  We  know  that  in  whatever 
glances  and  ghtter  it  began,  it  has  gone  on  steadily  widening 
and  deepening,  and  is  still  going  on.  And  we  know  above 
all  that  it  finds  its  highest  satisfaction  in  the  common 
love  of  Christ  and  God.  Other  sympathies,  many  others, 
we  have  :    I  hardly  know  any  real  interest  of  either  which 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  45 

we  do  not  both  sympathise  in  :  but  they  meet  and  have 
their  focus  in  this — in  the  common  love  of  Christ  and  God — 
in  the  struggle  side  by  side  to  hve  a  higher  Hfe — to  find  the 
Truth  wherever  it  is — to  overcome  the  flesh — to  become 
members  of  Christ  and  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

"And  if  this  is  so,  as  we  know  it  is,  there  is  nothing, 
neither  life  nor  death  nor  any  other  creature,  which  can 
separate  us.  There  may  be  pain  :  I  know  there  will  be  pain 
for  me  :  but  it  will  only  make  us  hold  more  closely  together. 
The  currents  of  the  world  will  carry  us  apart,  but  it  will 
only  be  to  meet  again  in  the  great  deep  stream,  the  river  of 
the  flood  that  makes  glad  the  city  of  God.  Outside  all 
will  change,  but  love,  the  love  of  spirits  for  each  other, 
and  in  each  other  for  Christ,  will  abide  for  ever. 

"  I  have  said  this  not  because  we  had  not  thought  it 
before,  but  simply  for  the  sake  of  saying  it.  Will  you  tell 
me,  Monk,  if  there  is  a  word  of  it  that  is  not  true  ?  3  a.m. 
Dec.  15,  1869." 

As  I  say,  Monk,  I  say  this  for  the  sake  of  saying  it. 
Honestly,  I  beHeve  it  is  all  true  :  do  you  ?  I  am  sure  you 
do  :  and  if  you  do,  it  shall  be  a  sort  of  covenant  between 
us.  It  is  just  a  year  since  we  were  at  Shanklin.  Hasn't 
it  been  a  wonderful  year  ?  To  me  almost  like  the  beginning 
of  a  new  Ufe,  bringing  with  it  many  sorrows,  many  pains, 
but  sorrows  and  pains  which  became  joys.  And  now  the 
year  that  is  coming  will  be  more  wonderful  stiU.  I  know 
it  will — for  there  is  no  end  to  the  wonder.  O  Monk.  God 
is  very  great. 

1870  {cet.  23) 

In  January,  with  Green  and  Nettleship,  he  was  at 
Niton,  Isle  of  Wight,  "  charging  Mill,  Mommsen,  and  other 
posts-and-rails,"  and  finding  it  hard  to  keep  all  his  subjects 
together  :  "  It  is  like  buckets  at  a  weU ;  if  one  comes  up 
without  spilling  every  drop  in  its  passage,  all  the  others 
have  to  go  down  again  empty,  to  be  refilled  :  and  so  on, 
over  again.  Green  is  buried  in  poor  dear  Stuart  M.,  but 
seems  happy."  In  March,  he  writes  to  Legard  of  a  lecture 
by  Ruskin  ; — 


46  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

He  has  raised  audiences  that  would  have  made  Mat 
Arnold's  head  a  foot  higher  :  the  whole  theatre  crammed  : 
it  really  is  the  most  gorgeous  eloquence  it  is  possible  to 
hear  ;  it  makes  one  perspire,  it  is  so  beautiful ;  and  Green 
was  fascinated  by  watching  a  man  who  became  perfectly 
hysterical,  waving  his  head  to  the  beat  of  the  sentences, 
and  bursting  into  inarticulate  roars  as  each  came  to  an 
end.  I  was  disappointed  in  what  he  said,  though ;  he  has, 
I  think,  left  his  old  ground  a  good  deal,  and  he  dehghted 
in  putting  things  in  an  almost  spitefully  revolutionary 
way.  He  divorced  religion  and  art  altogether  :  and  seemed 
to  think  they  could  only  do  harm  to  each  other  :  I  was  away 
at  the  one  on  morals  :  but  on  the  use  of  art,  he  was  feeble  : 
he  kept  harping  on  what  art  had  begun  in,  domestic  use, 
etc.,  and  all  the  time  we  wanted  to  know  what  it  ended  in. 
Art  is  not  for  use  :  a  spire  is  developed  out  of  a  simple 
roof,  but  when  it  is  at  SaUsbury,  it  is  a  spire,  and  not  a 
roof,  nor  anything  like  it ;  and  I  don't  see  that  it  helps 
one  to  tell  one  that  it  is  for  use.  You  begin  with  to  Znv : 
but  you  live  for  to  su  ^tjv  :  and  what  I  want  to  under- 
stand is  the  "  tv."  However,  he  is  going  to  work  at  line  : 
colour  :  light :  and  has  tremendous  designs  of  educating 
us  young  barbarians :  so  we  are  all  going  to  attend  ; 
though  he  has  sworn  that  if  we  do  we  shall  have  to  grind 
at  the  manual  part. 

At  the  end  of  the  Summer  Term  came  his  examination 
in  the  Final  Schools  ;  the  best  examination  in  the  world  ; 
exacting  and  fatiguing — a  whole  week  of  it — but  vdde  and 
vdse  and  intimately  personal ;  the  very  thing  for  him. 
He  did  more  than  get  a  first  class ;  he  startled  the  examiners 
on  their  thrones  :  he  beat  them  at  their  own  game  :  as  if 
he  had  gone  up  against  them  to  avenge  the  v^rong  which 
they  had  done  to  Nettleship  the  year  before. 


Holland  to  Ms  Mother 

June  14. — Yesterday  the  awful  viva  voce  came  off : 
of  course  directly  you  get  once  opposite  the  dread  examiners, 
you  find  it  is  all  right ;    but  before,  it  is  frightening.     At 


BALLIOL,    1868-1870  47 

this  moment,  Gruff  Ady  is  shuddering  by  my  side,  taking 
a  last  look  before  the  plunge ;  he  is  in  at  11.  Dear  old 
Thing,  I  know  you  won't  mind  what  I  get ;  nor  do  I  for 
myself  :  but  I  do  not  want  to  go  through  life  disappointing 
my  teachers,  and  1  feel  it  would  give  me  intellectual  confidence 
to  get  a  good  class  :  a  good  second  class  would  be  the  thing 
for  me. 

To  T.  H.  Green 

The  real  anxiety  of  the  Schools  was  the  dread  of  dis- 
appointing you  :  for  I  knew  my  relations  had  given  up 
expecting  anything  of  me  :  and  though,  when  it  came, 
the  delight  my  mother  would  feel  was  perhaps  the  first 
thing  in  my  mind,  the  pleasure  of  satisfying  you  was  close 
on  its  heels.  For  you  have  taught  me  everything  of  im- 
portance that  I  have  learnt  at  Oxford :  and,  for  the 
Schools,  you  gave  me  a  standpoint,  by  the  fact  of  which 
I  felt  at  once  in  a  better  position  towards  the  papers  than 
outsiders  could  be.  And  if  I  am  grateful  for  the  teaching, 
I  am  far  more  grateful  for  the  great  kindness  you  have 
shown  me  the  last  three  years. 

In  July,  he  and  Fremantle  were  in  the  Bavarian  Tyrol, 
and  at  the  Ammergau  Passion-play.*  He  writes  to  Legard, 
from  Innichen,  Tyrol,  July  31  : — 

Nothing  can  be  more  dehghtful  than  the  religion  of 
this  town  and  country  :  and  as  I  see  the  crowds  of  men  and 

*  "Impressions  of  the  Ammergau  Passion-Play."  By  an  Oxonian. 
1870.  London:  J.  T.  Hayes.  Small  8vo:  pp.  31,  This  is  the  earUest 
of  Holland's  pubUshed  writings.  He  saw  the  Play  under  disadvantages  : 
"  I  got  to  the  Play  an  hour  late,  had  almost  nothing  to  eat  the  whole  day, 
had  to  stand  the  greater  part  of  the  time  close  by  a  door  where  I  was 
disturbed  by  every  spectator  that  came  in  or  went  out :  and  it  poured 
with  rain  during  four  hours  of  the  performance."  But  the  Play  triumphed 
over  everything.  Some  of  his  judgments  may  be  noted  here,  (i)  Of 
the  triple  arrangement  of  the  Play  as  chorus,  tableaux,  and  dialogue. 
"  This  arrangement  is  based  on  the  true  dramatic  ideal,  in  which  the 
character  of  representation  is  never  stretched  so  as  to  border  on  deceit. 
There  is  no  miserable  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact  that  everybody  knows. 
On  the  contrary,  care  and  pains  are  taken  to  impress  upon  the  audience 
that  this  it  witnesses  is  mere  acting,  done  with  a  special  moral  purpose." 
(2)  Of  the  restraint  of  the  acting.    "  The  curb  that  was  set  on  the  imagina- 


48  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

women  trooping  in  from  the  hills,  to  take  an  earnest,  simple 
part  in  a  real  act  of  living  worship,  it  "  pitieth  me  to  think 
of  you  in  the  dust  "  of  proud  Puritanism,  with  its  jawing 
service  and  its  preachment-prayers  and  its  stiff  independence. 
The  purest  form  of  Roman  Catholicism  is  here  to  be  seen  : 
and,  for  the  first  time  in  my  hfe,  have  I  seen  a  country  where 
one  knew  at  once,  this  is  a  Christian  land  :  where  religion 
was  not  made  vulgar,  or  hid  out  of  sight  :  and  then  the 
people  are  so  charming,  so  hearty  and  wilHng  and  gentle. 
They  have  no  idea  of  servility,  no  over-consciousness. 
They  are  perfectly  familiar,  yet  never  offensive  :  they  chaff 
you,  sit  down  by  you,  hold  you  by  the  hand,  wish  you  all 
sorts  of  jolly  things  when  you  eat,  or  sleep,  or  leave. 

tion  was  worthy  of  Hellenic  moderation,  of  Sophoclean  tone.  These 
Bavarian  peasants  know  how  to  avoid  that  extravagance  which  is  the 
life  of  the  modem  drama.  For  instance,  when  Mary  Magdalene  was  on 
the  point  of  coming  in  to  wash  our  Saviour's  feet,  I  kept  expecting  how  she 
would  rush  across  the  proud  Pharisee's  hall,  how  with  eager  eyes  and 
streaming  hair  she  would  look  wildly  round  and  then  hurl  herself  at  our 
Lord's  feet  and  flood  them  with  tears  and  kisses.  But  nothing  of  the 
kind  took  place.  A  gentle  figure  stole  across  the  room,  almost  unobserved  ; 
she  sank  down  and  quietly  bowed  her  head  as  she  let  the  oil  fall  carefully 
drop  by  drop,  and  wiped  it  without  hurry  or  excitement,  with  one  lifted 
lock  of  hair."  (3)  Of  the  unsparing  representation  of  the  bodily  torture 
of  the  Crucifixion.  "  Is  it  so  wrong  to  dwell  somewhat  upon  this  side  of 
the  Cross  as  we  are  apt  to  imagine  ?  Bodily  suffering  is  so  closely  bound 
up  with  spiritual  anguish  that  it  is  hopeless  to  attempt  a  complete 
severance.  .  .  .  The  central  fact  of  Christianity  is  not  the  Divinity  of 
a  man,  but  the  Humanity  of  a  God  ;  not  Ufe  out  of  life,  so  much  as  life 
out  of  death."  (4)  Of  the  good  acting  of  the  minor  parts.  "  This 
universality  of  good  acting  gave  the  play  a  spirit  and  a  force  which  no 
professional  stage  can  ever  hope  to  reproduce.  The  charm  of  it  has 
been  attained  by  one  London  theatre  in  very  light  pieces :  but  if  any 
passionate  acting  is  ever  attempted,  the  setting  of  it  ruins  the  finest  jewel. 
The  beauty  of  the  Ammergau  Play  is  that  there  is  an  utter  absence  of 
anything  stilted.  Every  one  is  natural ;  no  one  tries  to  overdo  his  part. 
It  was  dehghtful  to  see  old  Simon  ask  our  Lord  to  dine  with  him ;  most 
delightful  to  see  the  maids  introduce  S.  Peter  and  S.  John  to  the  guard- 
room :  most  delightful  of  all  were  the  Council  scenes  in  the  Sanhedrim, 
in  which  Annas  shone  pre-eminent."  (5)  Of  the  reverence  of  the  acting. 
"  The  actors  were  too  impressed  with  the  mystic  and  awful  importance 
of  the  scenes  they  represented  to  allow  any  uncomfortable  feehng  to 
creep  in.  The  profanity  which  startles  the  blood  out  of  your  face  is  not 
to  be  looked  for  in  this  life  of  Jesus  as  interpreted  by  the  old-world  spirit 
of  Cathohcism,  but  in  the  Vie  de  Jesus  as  read  in  the  Ught  of  the  new-world 
criticism.  The  only  thing  that  jarred  upon  my  sense  of  propriety  was  the 
easy  way  in  which  the  audience  passed  from  awe  to  laughter." 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  49 

In  September,  he  was  at  home,  reading,  but  vexed  at 
the  want  of  a  fixed  object.  He  had  some  thought  of  an 
essay  on  the  Jesuits.     He  writes  to  Ady  : — 

I  wallow  in  the  mire  of  a  dilettante  laziness,  and  read 
but  httle.  I  have  made  various  attempts  on  Butler's 
Analogy,  but  always  come  out  stifled  and  suffocated  :  and 
have  recourse  to  Jesuitical  histories ;  Ranke's  Popes, 
which  are  entertaining  :  I  wish  I  could  now  mark  out  a 
definite  go  at  theology  ;  but  I  cannot  settle  down  to  it 
before  I  have  had  a  go  or  two  at  a  casual  Fellowship,  I 
suppose.     It  is  very  disturbing. 


NettlesMp  to  Holland 

Kettering,  Aug.  27. — Of  course  you  must  do  the  Jesuits  : 
it  is  splendid  to  have  a  centre  to  work  round.  I  am  going 
in  for  the  Enghsh  Essay,  "  The  Universities  in  the  Middle 
Ages,"  a  good  interesting,  unexciting  subject.  So  we 
shaU  each  have  an  essay  going,  which  will  be  capital.  I 
am  reading  Hegel,  or  rather  Hutcheson  StirHng  on  the 
secret  :  it  is  very  quaint  and  very  hard  :  but  the  man  is 
in  earnest  and  full  of  Hfe,  and  I  really  begin  to  feel  a  httle 
nearer  to  the  great  earth-centre,  round  which  one  has  been 
dabbhng  for  some  time.  I  have  vague  dreams  of  a  trans- 
lation of  Hegel's  iEsthetik  with  historical  illustrations 
somewhere  in  the  dim  womb  of  the  future.  But — and  here 
you  wiU  fill  up  the  gap  with  one  of  Green's  deprecatory 
waves  of  the  hand.  Besides  the  secret,  I  hover  lightly 
round  a  work  on  the  Republic,  dip  occasionally  into  WiUielm 
Meister  and  a  German  grammar,  take  cursory  views  of 
Hallam's  Middle  Ages,  and  spell  out  the  Italian  of  the 
Vita  Nuova. 

On  December  18,  Holland  was  elected  to  a  Senior  Student- 
ship at  Christ  Church  :  on  the  understanding  that  he  would 
be  in  residence  for  not  less  than  five  years,  and  would  take 
orders  "  within  a  reasonable  time."  In  the  examination, 
there  was  an  effundissem  in  his  Latin  prose,  which  came 
near  to  threatening  Christ  Church  with  the  loss  of  him. 

B 


50  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Fortunately,  it  would  not  be  his  business  to  teach  Latin 
prose  :  he  was  to  lecture  to  men  who  were  reading  for  their 
Final  Schools.  "  The  Greats  work/'  he  writes  to  Ady, 
"  pass  or  otherwise,  can  never  be  such  drudgery  as  the 
Mods,"  He  was  thankful  to  be  settled  in  Oxford  ;  but  he 
was  not  minded  to  prefer  Christ  Church  to  Balliol :  "I 
felt  awfully  trapped  when  the  Dean  muttered  '  five  years  '  "  : 
and  he  calls  Meadow  Buildings,  where  he  expected  to  have 
rooms,  "  those  swamps  at  the  bottom  of  St,  Aldate's," 


To  Legard 

Oxford,  Dec.  19, — You  see  it  has  come  out  somehow 
all  right.  They  seem  to  have  been  rather  flabbergasted 
at  certain  expressions  I  appear  to  have  used  :  but  they  came 
round,  and  then  made  it  up  by  settling  to  take  Stewart 
too  :  and  Merton  is  widowed,  I  walk  about  the  old  town 
and  think  at  last  I  have  become  a  part  of  her,  and  hear  my 
voice  in  her  bells  and  see  myself  in  her  beautiful  stones  and 
feel  part  and  parcel  in  all  her  loveliness.  Yet  I  can  hardly 
help  crying  to  think  of  the  old  Balliol  days  that  are  over  ; 
the  dear  old  place  that  has  been  meat  and  bread  to  me  all 
these  years  ;  no  more  to  Unk  her  name  with  mine,  no  more 
to  be  hand  and  glove  in  all  her  hfe  ;  this  is  dreadful. 


To  E.  S.  Talbot* 

Gayion  Lodge,  Jan.  5,  1871. — I  had  not  reasons  enough 
or  pluck  enough  to  refuse  the  studentship  on  the  conditions 
offered  to  me  :  so  there  I  am,  partly  boxed,  though  I  am 
still  determined  to  resist  as  far  as  possible  the  taking  of 
any  regular  tutorship.  Thinking  over  it,  I  find  it  an  immense 
comfort  to  have  one's  work  laid  out  before  one  for  some  years, 
so  that  there  is  no  doubt  where  to  turn  one's  hand.     My 

*  Edward  Stuart  Talbot :  born  Feb.  19,  1844.  Charterhouse:  Christ 
Church.  First  class  in  Final  Schools,  Literae  Humaniores,  and  Law  and 
Modern  History,  and  Senior  Studentship,  1866 :  EUerton  Theological 
Essay,  1867;  Warden  of  Keble,  1870-1888:  Vicar  of  Leeds,  1889-1895  : 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  1 895-1 905 :  Bishop  of  Southwark,  1 905-1 911  ; 
Bishop  of  Winchester  since  191 1. 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  51 

great  object  is,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  to  find  time  for  real 
personal  study  :  for,  though  it  may  be  conceited  to  apply 
it  to  oneself,  study  of  high  theology  is  as  needful  and  as  lacking 
as  anything  else  to  the  Church  at  the  present  day. 


To  T.  H.  Green 

Oxford,  Dec.  19, 1870. — It  would  make  me  perfectly  happy 
to  know  that  you  are  content  with  the  way  things  have 
gone  :  but  you  seemed  vexed  with  the  examination,  and 
altogether  I  feel  I  have  not  gone  in  exactly  for  what  you 
would  have  wished.  I  am  half  in  doubt  myself.  I  honestly 
thought,  apart  from  all  personal  motives,  that  I  should 
be  tied  to  the  College  more  at  Univ.  than  at  Ch.  Ch.  :  but 
I  do  not  find  myself  much  better  off,  for  the  Dean  stipulates 
a  certain  amount  of  devotion  to  the  place  for  a  few  years, 
and,  put  there  as  it  was  before  me,  I  could  not  see  that  it 
was  right  to  refuse.  However,  I  have  sworn  I  will  never 
be  a  tutor,  if  1  can  help  it.  I  had  my  doubts  too  whether, 
considering  I  had  perfectly  made  up  my  mind  to  taking 
orders,  it  was  not  simple  conceit  that  prompted  me  to  go 
in  for  an  open  fellowship. 

Anyhow,  I  did  not  attempt  to  cloak  in  any  atom  the 
teaching  I  had  got  from  you  :  I  put,  as  strong  as  I  was  able 
to  do,  what  I  thought.  In  this,  the  last  day  of  my  Balliol 
life,  I  cannot  help  thinking  of  all  I  have  done  and  learned 
there,  nor  writing  to  you  just  for  the  relief  of  saying  what 
an  opening  out  of  life  it  has  been  to  me,  how  I  have  loved 
it  with  all  my  heart,  how  grateful  I  am  for  it  all,  and  how 
long  I  hope  to  remember  it,  I  do  hope  you  will  not  think 
I  am  running  away  from  you  for  ever.  P.S. — At  least 
it  was  not  a  job  :  all  the  tutors  and  examiners  were  on 
my  side,  I  believe  :  this  is  not  pride,  but  to  satisfy  you. 


Nettleship  to  Holland 

Dec.i8,i8yo.  Oxford. — It  is  a  bad  look-out.  O  Monk,  the 
fates  are  too  strong  for  us.  It  is  no  good  :  things  cannot  be 
as  they  have  been — though  it  is  like  burning  one's  tongue  to 
say  so.  It  has  been  coming  on  Hke  a  great  cloud,  and  now 
it  has  come.  We  shall  have  to  go  different  ways,  and  they 
will  get  farther  and  farther  apart,  or  seem  to  do,  the  farther 


52  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

we  go.  You  will  take  orders  and  have  to  think  me  all 
wrong  :  you  won't  be  able  to  help  it :  the  world  will  make 
you.  And  there  will  be  no  more  real  communion  on  the 
real  things  of  hfe,  "  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth 
and  height. ' '  When  we  meet  we  shall  talk  different  languages 
and  there  will  be  no  time  to  interpret  ourselves  to  each 
other.  In  another  world  perhaps  we  may  meet  as  once 
we  met.  I  don't  think  I  shall  ever  make  such  another 
friend  :  it  seems  as  if  God  would  not  let  me  find  what  I 
want — perhaps  because  I  ought  to  try  to  find  him  more 
than  I  have  done.  A  year  ago  we  wrote  to  each  other  and 
said  we  were  one  at  bottom,  that  we  had  one  God,  were 
fighting  one  battle.  It  is  aU  true  :  so  we  are.  But  who 
wiU  beheve  us  if  we  say  so  ?  Can  you  see  a  way  out  of  it  ? 
I  have  looked  and  looked  and  thought  and  thought,  and 
I  cannot  find  any. 

T.  H.  Green  to  Holland 

Dec.  21,  1870. — Pray  get  rid  of  the  notion  that  I  am 
otherwise   than   thoroughly   pleased   at   your   getting   the 
Studentship.     Nor  am  I  so  weak  as  to  desire  that  you  should 
always  sail  in  my  boat.     AU  that  I  desire  is  that  you  should 
not  become  a  clerical  partisan — that  you  should  keep  in 
view  the  distinction  between  what  is  temporarily  edifying 
and  what  is  true ;    between  the  eternal  ideas  on  which  the 
religious    life    rests,    and    theological    dodges.     That    you 
will  do  this  essentially,  tho'  not  exactly  in  my  way,  I  don't 
doubt :    and  if,  while  so  doing,  you  can  avoid  those  anta- 
gonisms to  "  orthodoxy  "  which  to  me  are  inevitable,  but 
which  greatly  limit  present  usefulness,  so  much  the  better. 
These  antagonisms  on  my  part,  if  ever  I  am  to  utter  myself 
to  the  pubhc,  will  have  to  be  stated  more  explicitly  :    and 
sometimes   when   I   have   imagined   in   the   future   myself 
a  professed  heretic  and  you  a  working  "  priest,"  I  have 
feared  what  would  be  to  me  a  terrible  calamity — that  our 
friendship,  instead  of  becoming  more  fuU  and  equal  with 
time,  should  tend  to  disappear.     But  I  have  only  feared 
this  when  we  have  been  sometime  apart.     Whenever  we 
are  together,  I  always  feel  that  there  is  an  essential  harmony 
which  is  good  for  both  and  will  survive  differences  of  opinion. 
The  more  reason  why  we  should  be  often  together. 

I  shall  not  write  in  this  strain  again,  but  your  letter 


BALLIOL,   1868-1870  53 

and  its  occasion  move  me  just  now.  In  a  life  like  mine 
there  can  be  no  greater  blessing  than  gratitude  such  as 
yours.  I  cannot  think  it  deserved,  tho'  indeed  it  would 
have  been  a  shame  if  I  had  not  been  able  to  do  something 
for  you.  Anyhow,  let  me  tell  you  once  for  all  that  the  debt 
has  not  been  all  on  one  side.  Your  society  has  not  only 
been  a  great  source  of  happiness  to  me  but,  in  many  un- 
explainable  ways,  has  done  me  real  good. — P.S.  A  small 
matter — but  please  drop  the  "  Mr,  "  in  your  future  com- 
munications. 


Ill 

CHRIST   CHURCH,    1871-1874 

His  rooms  were  in  Tom  Quad,  number  3  on  staircase  7  : 
three  rooms,  one  of  them  large  enough  for  his  lectures  : 
its  walls  closely  covered  with  pictures  :  among  them  were 
the  Colleoni  statue  at  Venice,  Donatello's  St.  George,  and 
Michael  Angelo's  Jeremiah.  The  usual  comfortable  well- 
worn  furniture  ;  abundance  of  books,  and  a  fine  array  of 
prizes  for  athletics  on  one  of  the  bookcases ;  and  a  piano, 
and  a  tall  desk ;  it  was  the  fashion  in  those  days  to  read 
and  write  standing.  Nothing  "  aesthetic  "  :  he  did  once 
try  the  effect  of  a  blue  ceiHng,  but  it  was  disastrous.  The 
room  spoke  of  athletics,  of  holidays  in  Italy,  and  of 
scholarship. 

In  July,  1 87 1,  he  and  Fremantle  were  at  Lenk,  in 
Switzerland  :  "  We  live  quite  in  the  heart  of  the  people  : 
I  never  felt  less  of  a  tourist.  The  reading  goes  on  very 
fairly ;  we  read  theology  together  in  the  morning  and 
philosophy  together  in  the  evening,  Kuno  Fischer  on  Kant's 
Kritik  ;  you  ought  to  hear  our  jaws  over  the  transcendental 
antinomies  of  the  pure  reason."  In  August  they  went  up 
the  Oldenhorn : — 

We  strode  on  silently  and  solemnly,  as  the  moon  gradually 
paled  and  the  dawn  grew  greeny-grey  and  brindled,  and  the 
lines  of  the  crags  began  to  get  sharp  and  jagged  against 
the  eastern  sky  :    on  and  on  we  went,  as  if  the  sun  never 

54 


CHRIST   CHURCH,    1871-1874  55 

would  rise,  till  at  last  the  little  flying  wisps  of  clouds  blushed 
and  crimsoned,  and  then  a  tinge  stole  over  the  head  of  the 
Matterhorn  and  the  Mischabel,  and  then  peak  after  peak 
caught  it  and  passed  it  on,  and  the  grand  snowfields  of 
Mt.  Combin  were  diffused  with  warmth  and  colour,  and  the 
rounded  whiteness  of  our  own  glacier  felt  it  on  them,  and 
our  peaks  were  touched  with  Ufe,  and  our  shadows  became 
burning  blue  on  the  snow,  and  up  he  came,  the  great  High 
King  of  Nature,  Hke  a  bridegroom  out  of  his  chamber, 
rejoicing  like  a  giant  to  run  his  course. 

In  September,  Nettleship  writes  to  him  :  "  I  am  glad 
you  went  to  Miirren.  I  know  so  well  that  sight  of  the 
mountains  in  a  blaze  of  sunlight :  for  a  whole  week  at 
Chamouni  we  used  to  see  the  Mt.  Blanc  range  stand  hke 
chiselled  ivory  in  an  atmosphere  of  gold  :  there  is  nothing 
more  perfectly  beautiful,  I  think ;  though  perhaps  one 
would  tire  of  it  sooner  than  of  the  pageantries  of  clouds 
and  Hghts.  ...  Do  you  know  the  Prooemium  and  the 
Weltseele  of  Goethe's  Gott  und  Welt  ?  He  says  a  good 
deal  of  what  can  be  said  there,  I  should  think. ' '  In  December, 
Holland  writes  to  Ady  :  "  I  am  off  to  Rome  next  Friday. 
My  people  are  there  now,  so  I  rush  for  4  weeks  :  Nettlep. 
is  coming  too.  I  lecture  now  on  the  Republic,  which 
will  probably  amuse  you  :  I  have  very  old  men  in  beards, 
and  Dasent  mocking  at  my  feet :  but  I  like  it.  I  do  not 
know  whether  they  do." 


«       1872   {cBt.  25) 

In  January,  he  was  in  Rome.  On  April  30,  came  the 
death  of  Manuel  Dasent.  In  July,  Holland  was  at  Peter- 
borough, studying  with  Westcott.  In  August,  he  was  at 
Festiniog  on  a  reading-party.  In  September,  he  was 
ordained  by  Bishop  Mackarness  at  Cuddesdon. 


56  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 


To  Fremanfle 

g,  Piazza  di  Spagna,  Rome,  January. — What  shall  I 
tell  of  ?  I  am  seeing  and  doing  many  things,  most  of 
infinite  interest,  and  aU  the  rest  marvellous.  To  feel  at 
home  in  Rome,  to  find  myself  in  it  and  of  it,  to  walk  about 
it  without  an  unending  amazement  at  the  thought  of  being 
there,  is  what  I  am  going  through.  .  .  .  We  went  to  an 
audience  with  the  Pope  ;  we  knelt  and  kissed  the  Infallible 
hand,  most  astounding  to  look  in  the  gentle  old  man's 
face  and  think,  "  He  believes  that  he  alone  knows  truth 
and  is  inspired  from  God  "  ;  how  can  he  sleep,  or  laugh, 
or  eat  ?  I  can't  imagine  ;  to  see  Europe  breaking  up  into 
wild  chaos  of  storm  and  tempest,  and  to  stand  up,  when  all 
have  failed,  and  say,  "  I  am  alone  in  the  world  the  possessor 
of  truth,  which  you  can  none  of  you  find  :  God  speaks  to 
me  and  to  none  else  "  :  and  to  see  no  effect  happen,  to  be 
totally  unable  to  solve  the  enigma  of  life,  to  see  all  un- 
satisfied, and  all  falling,  and  yet  to  know  what  God  thinks  ; 
to  doubt,  yet  to  be  incapable  of  doubt ;  to  explain  an 
explanation  which  removes  no  stone  out  of  the  path,  and 
which  no  one  accepts  ;  to  watch  the  one  great  fact  emerging 
out  of  the  ruck  of  centuries,  the  sole  fact  of  all  history, 
as  it  must  be,  growing  into  soUtary  magnificence  out  of 
huddle  and  muddle  and  confusion  and  disorder,  that  I 
and  I  only  am  infalhble — ^how  a  man  fives  under  the  weight 
of  this,  I  can't  conceive — much  less  beUeve  that  I  touched 
and  saw  and  handled  him.  However,  there  he  was,  good 
and  kind  and  very  charming. 

On  Good  Friday,  he  was  for  many  hours  at  St.  Peter's, 
Eaton  Square : — 

Wilkinson  sets  me  going  at  a  real  life  independent  of 
nearly  all  questionings,  based  on  pure  spirituafity,  and 
hanging  between  the  two  poles  of  an  immediate  instinctive 
refigious  intuition  of  God  and  man,  which  seems  to  me  to 
be  the  actual  end  into  which  all  things  must  only  pour 
their  results,  and  in  which  I  feel  an  absolute  lacking.  Love 
of  God — I  hardly  know  what  it  is  :  but  I  struggled  at  it 
under  him  and  made  out  dim  glimmerings  of  something. 
He  preached  conversion  very  strongly,  to  me  a  despairing 


CHRIST   CHURCH,  1871-1874  57 

doctrine.  Still  I  recognise  a  breaking-up  of  the  whole  man, 
a  crushing  of  self  into  pure  negation,  which  I  miss  very 
much  in  my  friends  the  curates  of  St.  Barnabas,  who  appear 
to  me  to  be  forcing  forms  down  our  throats  before  we  have 
got  to  the  heart  of  reUgion. 

On  May  i,  he  writes  from  Oxford,  to  his  sister,  of 
Dasent's  death  : — 

Dasent  lunched  with  me,  and  then  he  and  Fremantle 
and  I  rowed  down  the  river  to  bathe.  It  was  the  loveliest 
day  of  the  whole  year — but  the  lasher  of  Sandford  was 
running  very  hard  with  a  regular  flood  stream  from  these 
late  rains — I  had  had  my  swim  and  got  back,  before  Dasent 
went  in  ;  he  took  his  header  and  came  up  quick  and  began 
swimming  all  right,  but  I  saw  that  he  made  no  way  and  could 
not  get  out  of  the  current,  so  I  made  signs  to  Fremantle  to 
keep  near  him — he  did  not  notice  at  first :  at  last  I  saw 
Dasent  giving  way  to  the  stream  and  drifting  down,  so  I 
shouted  to  Fremantle,  who  turned  and  followed  him  ;  he 
had  some  way  to  go,  and  before  he  got  up,  Dasent  had 
gradually  got  lower  and  lower  in  the  water  till  his  head 
had  been  twice  under — and  I  almost  feared  he  was  gone, 
but  Fremantle  caught  hold  of  his  hair  at  last  and  began 
pulUng  him  in  :  all  this  time  I  was  swimming  out  from 
land  to  them,  and  when  I  came  up  I  got  my  arm  round 
Dasent's  waist,  who  just  hung  down  over  it  under  water 
quite  unconscious,  and  freed  Fremantle,  who  was  getting 
beat  and  made  for  the  shore  to  get  help — I  swam  on  easily 
enough  with  the  back-current,  till  I  got  within  10  or  12  yds. 
of  land,  when  the  back-current  began  drawing  me  round 
into  the  main  lasher-stream  again  :  and  I  found  I  had 
not  strength  to  keep  out  of  it ;  I  called  to  Fremantle, 
but  he  was  now  ahead,  when  I  suppose  the  stream  touched 
us,  for  it  seemed  to  swallow  Dasent  up  from  my  arm,  and 
before  I  knew  what  had  happened  almost,  he  had  been 
sucked  away  from  me — I  turned  and  just  saw  him  go  down, 
but  he  never  came  to  the  top  again — I  had  only  to  go  to 
land — and  there  the  whole  thing  was  over — and  I  had 
let  him  shp,  lost  hirti — it  is  a  thing  one  can  never  forgive 
oneself  :  if  I  had  only  held,  only  remembered  to  let  us  both 
float  down  with  the  stream  and  get  out  below, — but  he  came 
along  so  easily  in  the  back-current  that  I  had  let  my  hold 


58  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

get  slack,  I  think,  and  the  stream  was  too  strong  for  it — 
I  hardly  know  now,  how  he  slipped  away  from  me — but  it 
is  terrible  to  know  that  a  minute's  more  hold,  and  there 
would  be  no  mother  sobbing  her  heart  out  in  London,  no 
father  and  sister  and  brother  feeling  the  light  of  their  lives 
gone  from  them. 

I  dragged  on  till  9  o'clock  last  night,  hopelessly,  a  horrible 
trade,  so  wearying,  so  dreary.  To-day  we  got  down  there 
about  9,  and  at  12.30  the  body  was  drawn  up  out  of  the 
very  spot  where  it  sank.  It  is  a  tremendous  lasher.  We 
brought  back  the  body  up  the  river  in  a  boat,  the  way  we 
went  with  him  yesterday.  The  inquest  is  to-morrow.  His 
poor  brother  is  here ;  his  people  come  to-morrow.  He 
was  one  of  Fremantle's  greatest  friends. 

On  June  13,  in  Christ  Church  Hall,  he  gave  the  annual 
Commemoration  address  :  on  Dean  Aldrich.  He  began  it 
with  a  great  contrast :  he  spoke  of  Wolsey — 

We  met  together  here  in  our  Hall  last  year  to  do  honour, 
on  this  our  high  Feast-day,  to  one  whose  lot  it  was  to  stand 
up  before  all  time  in  the  vigour  and  vividness  of  an  historic 
personality  ;  one  endowed  with  an  energy  to  mould  the 
policy  of  a  State,  a  boldness  to  encounter  Emperors,  an 
ambition  that  sought  its  home  in  the  spiritual  throne  of 
Catholic  Christendom  :  one  who  gathered  up  into  himself, 
for  the  last  time  in  England's  history,  the  gorgeous  pomp 
and  power  and  splendour  which  was  possible  only  when 
one  man  could  wield  at  once  the  sword  of  the  State  and 
the  thunders  of  the  Church  could  robe  the  bare  human 
mechanism  of  his  authority  from  the  king  with  the  ghostly 
grandeur  of  an  embassy  from  the  Emerald-bound  Throne 
set  on  the  Crystal  Sea.  To-night  I  have  to  bring  before  the 
memory  of  the  House  a  character  of  a  far  different  type ; 
the  character  of  a  quiet,  humble,  home-hke  scholar,  of  a 
gentle,  modest  musician ;  of  a  man,  born  indeed  into 
stormy  times,  but  round  whose  peaceful  life  and  temper 
storms  and  tempests  broke  in  vain  ;  of  one  who  seems 
ever  to  shrink  from  such  publicity  as  his  high  qualities 
compel  him  to  assume ;  who,  whether  Monmouth  was 
fighting,  or  James  was  flying,  or  William  was  delivering, 
lived  on  his  round  of  College  duty,  content  if  he  could  put 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  59 

in  a  good  word  when  Papist  grew  rampant  or  Dissenter 
threatened,  but  never  so  happy  as  when  dignity  and  glory 
could  be  tossed  aside,  and  he  could  sit  and  study  Italian 
scores,  or  edit  a  classic  for  his  scholars,  or  sing  a  catch 
with  a  friend,  or  smoke  his  everlasting  pipe. 

In  July,  he  and  a  great  friend  were  at  Peterborough  ; 
he  writes  to  Fremantle  : — 

July  7. — We  have  settled  down,  and  are  now  as  happy 
as  kings.  We  read  hard,  10  hours  on  Friday,  and  gj 
yesterday ;  walk  to  the  magnificent  Cathedral,  and  sit 
there  for  exercise,  and  get  on  capitally.  Westcott  is 
stronger  and  is  ready  to  do  much  more  than  I  expected. 
We  go  three  times  a  week  to  him,  and  bring  him  things 
written  which  he  has  set  us  to  do.  He  is  quite  wonderful, 
of  a  pure  earnest  hoHness  of  life,  a  humility,  a  gentleness, 
a  saintliness,  such  as  I  have  hardly  met  with  before.  There 
are  touches  of  the  Principal  in  his  manner  :  and  his  humble 
ways  remind  me  of  Jemmy  Riddell,  he  almost  sighs  like 
him.  He  is  the  sort  of  man  before  whose  high-toned  purity 
and  prayerfulness  and  intense  religiousness  I  cower  with 
shame.  He  prays  with  us  when  we  come  to  him ;  so 
slowly,  gently,  whisperingly.  He  speaks  of  St.  John's 
Gospel  with  a  sort  of  hushed  awe  :  it  is  Hke  Fra  Angelico, 
he  cannot  venture  to  criticise  a  verse  without  a  prayer. 

July  13. — You  are  very  different  indeed  from  old  days 
— and  I  am  not.  I  cannot  help  hoping  that  ordination 
may  do  for  me  something  of  what  it  has  done  for  you,  made 
Hfe  a  real  effective  spiritual  discipline.  For  that  I  look 
forward  to  it  :  for  the  rest,  at  present  I  do  cower  before  it. 
I  feel  some  land  unexplored  within  me.  It  will  probably 
fall  into  my  map's  plan  ;  but  it  is  evidently  not  down  there 
yet.  Must  not  one  stop  to  see  what  there  is  hidden  in  these 
far  countries,  before  one  gives  them  their  outhnes  for 
life? 

Yet  I  conclude,  and  your  letter  implies  to  me,  that  this 
clear  sight  has  to  be  balanced  by  the  necessity  of  motes 
and  even  beams.  These  things  must  be  done  in  some 
sense  on  a  venture  ;  a  probabiHty  is  not  altogether  out  of 
place  in  them — one  cannot  wait  till  the  river  runs  all  away. 
Of  course  all  this  is  plain,  old  truth — and  I  suppose,  if  I 
rationally  considered  and  counted  up  to  this  side  and  to 


6o  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

that,  1  should  find  all  my  lucid  moments  to  be  on  the  side 
of  faith  ;  whenever  I  get  a  clear  view  of  anything  religious, 
it  takes  its  place  within  the  Church  ;  all  the  theory  of  life 
I  have,  leads  that  way :  the  other  side  is  more  the  dark 
unknown  then  the  actual.  Practically  my  whole  bias, 
intellectual  and  moral,  runs  one  way.  If  I  have  a  tendency, 
it  is,  and  I  can  trace  it,  in  one  direction — and  it  is  stronger 
at  this  moment,  under  Westcott,  than  it  has  been  before 
for  long.  So  am  I  not  right  ?  Sometimes  1  long  for  another 
year ;  but  it  is  weakness,  I  think,  more  than  strength, 
whenever  I  can  track  it  home,  that  makes  me  wish  for 
delay. 

His  letters  to  Fremantle  at  this  time  are  full  of  self- 
analysis  and  self-description,  wholly  unHke  him  in  later 
years.  There  is  a  long  argument  over  confession  :  Fremantle 
urging  it,  Holland  standing-out  against  it.  In  other  letters, 
he  finds  fault  with  himself,  in  restless  and  excessive  phrases, 
not  for  want  of  belief,  but  for  want  of  feeling :  "I  can 
see  at  times  that  the  life  that  is  would  be  incomprehensible 
without  one  to  come  :  but  it  is  rather  the  feeHng  that  I 
do  not  beheve  either  that  I  am  immortal  or  mortal — that 
I  do  not  see  the  necessity  of  being  either,  that  I  find  no 
absoluteness,  no  importance,  in  either — that  makes  me 
despair."  And  again,  "  Sorrow  has  impressed  me 
enormously  lately :  it  does  lift  me  into  unknown  worlds. 
But  there  it  stops  :  I  make  nothing  of  it.  It  leaves  me 
dumb  with  awe,  but  will  not  take  any  shape,  or  strike  a 
definite  truth  into  my  soul — it  wiU  not  do  more  than  shadow 
out  its  message,  then  sweep  by  its  dim  vestures,  without 
turning  upon  me  the  clear  eyes  of  God.  It  will  not 
mould  itself  into  the  Christian  Faith  and  stamp  its  truth 
home  to  me.  A  vague  sense  of  spreading  my  arms  out  into 
the  night  for  a  weeping  Christ  is  all  I  can  get  out  of  it." 

In  September,  there  is  the  first  mention  of  his  longing 
to  bring  Oxford  into  closer  touch  with  London.  It  is  not 
undergraduates  that  he  is  thinking  of ;    it  is  the  younger 


CHRIST   CHURCH,  1871-1874  61 

dons.     He  is  writing,  on  Sept.  i,   to  Ady,  congratulating 
him  on  his  curacy  at  St.  Saviour's,  Hoxton  : — 

I  am  so  awfully  glad  to  hear  that  you  are  going  to  London. 
It  would  have  been  terrible  to  have  been  shut  away  with 
dreamy  old  agricultural  pastoral  sleepiness,  just  when 
life  was  longing  to  take  it  out  of  itself  somewhere,  but 
did  not  know  how,  and  so  might  He  down  and  go  to  bed 
without  ever  making  its  effort.  There  is  something  seething 
in  the  London  slums  which  it  will  tackle  all  our  energies 
to  "  grapple  with,"  as  Willert  used  to  say.  It  is  the  one 
thing  set  before  us  to  do  in  this  age,  and  it  has  all  to  be 
done — a  new  temper  hes  hid  there,  a  new  rehgious  want ; 
and  the  Church  has  done  nothing  yet  to  fit  itself  on  to  the 
new  force.  One  feels  so  certain  that  if  this  generation  of 
ours  cannot  manage  it,  it  will  never  be  done.  I  long  to 
hear  all  about  these  things.  Hid  away  at  Oxford,  the  full- 
ness of  the  new  hfe  is  an  unknown  mystery  to  one.  How- 
ever, I  daresay  it  seems  just  as  hopeless  to  you,  doing 
anything  that  matters  to  anybody.  Still,  you  must  see 
actual  Hving,  actual  dying,  actual  sinning,  real  good  hearty 
vice,  naked  sin :  drunkenness,  murder,  revelHng,  and 
such  Uke — instead  of  subtle  indistinct  viciousness  of 
tendency. 

A  week  later,  he  writes  to  Fremantle,  of  a  scheme  that 
is  "  kicking  about  his  head  "  : — 

Resident  tutors  at  Oxford  ought  to  get  woke  up  to  a 
sense  of  Hfe  and  death  and  the  old  "  primal  sympathies  "  : 
also  they  ought  above  all  to  have  touched  the  new  spirit 
of  irregulated  democracy  and  to  know  what  it  wants,  what 
it  feels  the  need  of,  but  is  angry  at  finding  no  satisfaction 
for.  This  is  quite  as  important  as  the  more  inteUectual 
infideHty,  just  when  a  democracy  is  rising  into  power,  which 
no  reHgion,  not  even  Christianity,  much  less  the  Church, 
has  the  sHghtest  hold  upon.  Why  should  not  our  associa- 
tion *  have  some  sort  of  organisation  for  this  ?  Could 
it  not  make  some  arrangement  with  a  London  parish,  so 
as  to  keep  a  sort  of  mission  home  open  for  two  months  in 

*  A  small  society  had  just  been  formed  in  Oxford,  for  the  study  of 
theology  :  it  used  to  meet  at  Keble,  under  Talbot's  presidency. 


62  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

the  Long  ?  We  could  keep  up  a  succession  of  3  or  4  men 
at  least,  I  should  think,  for  that  time,  ready  to  do  clerical 
and  lay  work.  It  would  do  us  good  to  see  what  is  really 
happening  in  this  world  of  slums  from  which  all  the  new 
spirit  seems  to  issue  :  and  it  might  also  be  useful  to  some 
London  parson.     I  long  for  something  of  the  sort. 

There  is  a  letter  at  this  time  from  Nettleship,  full  of 
misery :  he  compels  himself  to  put  in  very  plain  words  the 
literal  meaning  of  certain  statements  in  the  Gospels  and  the 
Creed — "  O,  think  of  my  writing  like  this,  Hke  the  charge 
of  a  Dean  of  the  Court  of  Arches,  or  an  article  in  the 
Spectator — ^And  yet  what  am  I  to  do?  I  cannot  beHeve 
these  things.  Monk,  I  cannot."  On  September  23,  Holland 
was  ordained.  As  he  had  done  best  of  the  candidates  for 
deacons'  orders,  he  read  the  Gospel  at  the  ordination-service. 
In  October,  he  went  to  his  first  retreat,  for  two  days,  at 
Keble. 

To  Fremantle 

Sept.  18. — I  suppose  I  have  got  some  gush  of  naked 
humanity  that  will  always  be  with  me,  yet  I  cannot  think 
I  have  got  too  much  to  take  me  through  the  new  life ; 
one  will  want  all  one  can  get  to  bridge  over  gulfs.  Discipline 
is  so  evidently  right,  that  one  is  compelled  to  call  up  the 
opposed  unutterable  indescribable  something  which  one 
feels  must  qualify  it. 

Sept.  25. — ^To  my  joy  I  had  to  read  the  Gospel,  a  great 
pleasure  to  rise  and  shout  those  magnificent  words,  "  Let 
your  loins  be  girded  about " — they  seemed  to  express 
the  whole  meaning  and  glory  of  the  service.  I  have  seldom 
been  happier  than  at  the  time  of  ordination.  All  hanker- 
ings, all  questionings  vanished — even  the  thought  of  Nettle- 
ship  seemed  one  of  hope — and  1  knew  that  I  was  right  to 
have  done  it  now — I  felt  that  I  had  reached  the  point 
when  the  stamp  that  was  to  be,  ought  to  be  set  on  my  life 
— when  the  waiting  ought  to  end,  and  I  be  ready  to  start 
out  with  my  loins  girded  and  light  burning — I  do  not  think 
anything  broke  into  the  peace  of  mind.  ...  I  know  that 


CHRIST   CHURCH,  1871-1874  63 

I  am  bound  to  gird  up  every  thought,  wish,  prayer,  hope, 
tendency,  inclination,  love  into  the  expectancy  of  the 
Lord  I  have  sworn  to  serve — and  this  must  have  effort, 
strain,  etc.  These  I  mean  to  give.  What  I  should  like 
to  know  is  whether  1  should  be  right  in  taking  my  own 
method  about  this,  which  would  be,  strictness  of  rule  in 
the  matter  of  prayer,  meditation,  aspiration,  and  then 
letting  this  act  freely  in  the  work  of  Hfe. 

I  cannot  conceive  myself  using  confession  without 
putting  myself  in  relation  to  sin  in  a  way  to  confuse  it, 
colour  it,  taint  it :  I  daresay  it  is  very  foohsh  of  me  :  but 
still  there  it  is.  All  sorts  of  motives  would  be  creeping 
about  me,  intricate  tanglings,  my  wretched  feminine  passive- 
ness,  my  taking  my  colour  so  much  from  what  is  around 
me — I  cannot  help  it ;  it  runs  down  all  through  me,  I  do 
not  know  where  it  ends,  where  it  begins.  It  is  in  and  out 
and  under  every  word  and  almost  every  thought  of  mine 
— I  cannot  distinguish  what  is  it  and  what  is  not.  Yet 
at  the  bottom  I  have,  for  the  very  reason  that  all  this  in 
me  is  so  outward,  a  certain  inwardness,  an  obstinacy  of 
reserve,  with  which  I  can  come  in  contact  with  God,  but 
cannot  let  it  suffuse  itself  through  mediums,  communications. 


To  T.  H.  Green 

I  was  ordained  last  Sunday,  and  naturally  at  such  a 
time  my  thoughts  turned  much  on  that  which  had  been 
the  chief  influence  of  my  lay  hfe,  and  on  how  far  I  must 
be  putting  something  between  myself  and  it.  It  may 
be  from  a  lack  of  logic,  but  I  could  not  see  that  I  was  writing 
or  doing  anything  inconsistent  with  what  I  learned  from 
you.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  all  the  meaning  I  could  put 
into  my  theology  and  certainly  my  ethics  was  still  the  old 
thing.  Only,  the  religious  form  seemed  to  me  to  cap  it 
all,  and  the  cap  seemed  to  me  to  fit.  StiU  I  felt  that  there 
must  be  a  split  somehow  or  somewhere,  and  dim  notions 
of  something  you  once  said  to  me  about  a  preference  of 
morality  to  sanctity  floated  about  me  as  explanatory  of 
the  difference — and  the  old  difference  seemed  to  resolve 
itself  into  a  taking  of  the  same  thing  another  way  up.  I 
do  not  know  whether  it  is  so.  Probably  you  will  think 
worse  of  it,  I  fear.     But  I  must  write  to  you,  just  to  say 


64  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

that  I  still  feel  to  myself  at  least  to  trace  all  the  strongest 
and  clearest  threads  of  hfe  to  you — and  that,  since  this 
is  so,  I  trust  in  my  own  heart  that  you  will  not  look  black 
at  my  new  coat,  or  feel  that  1,  for  my  part,  think  myself 
cut  off  from  you.     I  owe  as  much  as  ever  to  you. 

Nettles  hip  to  Holland 

Sept.  25. — I  haven't  answered  your  letter  before,  partly 
because  I  thought  I  had  better  wait  till  it  was  all  over 
and  you  were  ordained.  .  .  .  There  is  no  good  in  saying 
much  about  it :  you  know  what  has  been  said,  and  what 
I  should  say ;  it  is  all  as  old  as  the  hills.  You  look  back 
to  a  figure  in  the  past ;  I  look  forward  to  a  realisation  in 
the  future.  To  you  the  reconcihation  of  that  which  is 
the  absolute  and  that  which  is  not  the  absolute  is  possible  : 
I  can  understand  their  infinitely  near  approach  to  each 
other,  but  not  their  fusion.  All  that  you  say  comes  home 
to  me,  makes  me  echo  it,  makes  me  wish  the  words  were 
mine :  yet  the  conditions  under  which  you  say  it  and 
those  under  which  I  should  say  it  are  gulfs  apart. 

There — I  will  not  darken  counsel  with  words  any  more, 
nor  ever  again  if  I  can  help  it  touch  on  the  subject. 

The  question  is.  Can  we  be  friends  ?  Of  course  the 
words  are  a  mockery  :  I  suppose  we  each  know  that  we 
would  share  the  last  crust  together,  or  go  into  battle  together, 
or  speak  up  for  each  other  against  the  world.  Only 
unfortunately  in  Oxford  there  is  lots  of  bread,  and  the 
only  opportunity  of  a  violent  death  is  the  5th  November, 
and  the  only  slanders  common-room  scandal.  We  are 
shut  out  from  communion  in  the  very  great  and  in  the 
very  small  aUke  ;  we  cannot  die  together  and  we  cannot 
live  together.  One  thing  you  won't  doubt,  that  no  long 
coats  or  white  ties  will  make  any  difference  to  me.  How- 
ever long  and  however  white  yours  may  get,  however 
short  and  however  black  mine,  you  shall  be  to  me  the 
man  whom  I  love,  in  whose  voice  I  shall  catch  the  familiar 
ring  from  however  far  it  comes,  in  whose  triumphs  I  shall 
share  however  strange  to  me  the  trumpets  that  blazon 
them,  to  whom  I  shall  try  to  be  true  however  loudly  the 
babblings  of  theologies  and  philosophies  may  tell  me  that 
I  am  false.  God,  whom  we  are  both  trying  to  serve,  bless 
you  and  keep  you. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  65 

T.  H.  Green  to  Holland 

Oct.  6. — I  am  seriously  and  substantially  obliged  to  you 
for  writing  to  me  as  you  did  after  your  ordination.  I 
have  often  wished  that,  if  we  could  not  agree,  we  should  at 
least  understand  each  other  better  about  reHgious  matters. 
But  they  are  difficult  to  speak  of,  and  so  long  as  you  were 
at  all  in  a  pupillary  relation  to  me  I  was  afraid  of  seeming 
to  wish  to  bring  you  to  my  own  way  of  thinking  of  them. 

First,  you  must  not  think  that  I  have  any  animosity 
to  the  clerical  profession,  as  such.  All  the  best  influences 
of  my  life  have  been  due  to  those  who  belonged  to  it,  my 
own  strongest  interests  have  always  drawn  me  towards  it, 
and  I  still  regard  it  as  an  opening  to  a  nobler  hfe  than, 
except  by  very  few,  can  be  otherwise  found.  Perhaps 
this  sometimes  causes  a  certain  bitterness  in  the  thought 
that  the  entrance  to  it  is  guarded  by  the  profession  of 
opinions  which  to  me  seem  untenable  ;  and  the  bitterness 
is  sometimes  aggravated  when  I  find  those  who  are  able 
to  pursue  the  calling  making  by  word  or  manner  sacerdotal 
pretensions  which  seem  to  me  practically  mischievous  and 
a  parody  on  the  true  dignity  of  their  vocation.  This  is 
the  worst  of  my  ill  feeling  towards  the  clergy.  There  may 
be  a  tinge  of  selfishness  in  it,  but  at  the  worst  it  would  never 
make  me  feel  any  alienation  from  one  whom  (if  you  will 
let  me  say  so)  I  love  and  respect  so  much  as  I  do  you. 

There  can  be  no  greater  satisfaction  to  me  than  to  think 
that  I  at  all  helped  to  lay  the  intellectual  platform  for 
your  religious  Hfe  ;  and  that,  not  merely  out  of  personal 
regard  to  you,  but  because  if  I  were  only  a  breeder  of  heretics 
I  should  suspect  my  philosophy.  If  it  is  sound,  it  ought 
to  supply  intellectual  formulae  for  the  religious  Hfe  whether 
lived  by  an  "  orthodox "  clergyman  or  (let  us  say)  a 
follower  of  Mazzini.  As  you  know,  I  never  dreamt  of 
philosophy  doing  instead  of  religion.  My  own  interest 
in  it,  I  beheve,  is  whoUy  religious ;  in  the  sense  that  it 
is  to  me  (not  exactly,  in  popular  phrase,  the  "  handmaid 
of  reHgion ")  but  the  reasoned  intellectual  expression  of 
the  effort  to  get  to  God.  Nor  have  I  ever  meant  to  put 
morahty  and  religion  in  competition,  whatever  I  may 
have  hastily  said  (which  I  don't  recollect)  about  "  preferring 
morality  to  sanctity."  I  hold  that  all  true  morahty  must 
be  reUgious,  in  the  sense  of  resting  upon  the  consciousness 

F 


66  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

of  God  :  and  that  if  in  modern  life  it  sometimes  seems  to 
be  otherwise,  this  is  either  because  the  consciousness  of 
God,  from  intellectual  obstacles,  cannot  express  itself, 
or  because  the  morality  is  not  the  highest — at  any  rate 
has  for  the  time  become  mechanical.  There  is  indeed  a 
certain  sort  of  "  sanctity,"  which  seems  to  me  an  eccle- 
siastical pseudo-virtue,  of  which  the  best  that  can  be  said 
is  that  it  is  a  harmless  sentiment ;  tho'  it  is  a  sentiment 
which  in  its  social  effects  may  become  very  mischievous. 
It  is  the  sanctity  of  men  who,  according  to  a  pregnant 
phrase  that  I  lately  met  with,  "  make  reUgion  their  God 
instead  of  God  their  religion." 

But  tho'  I  reckon  religion  and  morality  properly  identical, 
and  religion  and  philosophy  to  be  in  such  different  planes 
that  they  cannot  compete,  I  do  recognise  a  competition 
between  philosophy  and  dogmatic  theology  each  claiming 
to  be  the  true  rationale  of  religion ;  and  for  my  own  part 
(tho'  I  am  in  no  hurry  to  persuade  others  so)  I  have 
definitely  rejected  dogmatic  theology  for  a  certain  sort  of 
philosophy.  This  does  not  to  my  own  consciousness 
essentially  separate  me  from  orthodox  Xtians,  but  I  fear 
it  must  (if  known)  do  so  to  theirs.  The  position  of  dogmatic 
theology  is  that  true  ideas  about  God  and  things  spiritual 
are  derived  from  miraculous  events.  Now  on  the  matter 
of  the  truth  of  the  ideas  I  don't  essentially  differ  from  it, 
except  that  the  way  in  which  it  derives  them  limits  the  scope 
of  the  ideas.  It  is  the  derivation  from  miraculous  events 
that  I  reject,  holding  that  the  beUef  in  the  events  was 
derived  from  the  ideas  (of  which  philosophy  is  the  true 
intellectual  expression),  not  the  ideas  from  the  real  happen- 
ing of  the  events.  The  result  is  that  from  orthodox 
Christianity,  as  expressed  in  prayer,  and  in  the  ordinances 
of  Protestant  worship,  I  find  no  ahenation,  while  I  could 
not  subscribe  to  one  of  the  creeds. 

I  state  these  opinions  with  a  brevity  which  might 
seem  egotistic,  but  you  will  believe,  I  hope,  that  there  is 
no  egotism  in  the  way  I  hold  them.  They  present  them- 
selves to  me  as  the  inevitable  result  of  thinking-together 
God,  the  world,  and  the  history  of  man  ;  but  I  have  no 
destructive  interest  in  them.  I  had  rather  not  state  them 
at  all,  if  by  stating  them  I  weakened  any  one's  hold  on 
Christian  ideas.  To  the  best  Christians  now,  as  at  the 
beginning  of  Xtendom,  their  behef  in  the  miraculous  events 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  67 

of  Christ's  life  flows  out  of  their  ideas  about  God — ^ideas 
which  I  humbly  share  with  them  ;  which  I  did  not  invent, 
but  which  are  the  cause  of  whatever  is  good  in  me.  To 
such  persons  Christ  is  God  conceived  under  certain  attributes, 
and  so  He  is  to  me.  It  is  only  when  they  begin  to  argue 
about  "  evidences,"  making  the  Christian  life  rest  on  a  basis 
which,  as  I  conceive,  cannot  stand,  that  I  feel  called  on  to 
resist  them.  Some  day  I  hope  to  work  out  in  a  book  what 
I  think  on  these  matters.  I  shall  not  do  so,  till  I  can  do 
it  constructively — till  I  feel  able  to  exhibit  the  essential 
truth  of  Christian  ideas  about  God,  the  Spirit,  Eternal  life, 
and  prayer — but  to  do  that  I  should  have  to  maintain  the 
"  a  priori  impossibihty  of  miracles,"  for  to  me  the  philo- 
sophic condition  of  Theism  is  that  there  is  nothing  real 
apart  from  thought,  whereas  the  doctrine  of  miracles  impUes 
that  there  is  something  real  apart  from  thought,  viz. 
"  nature,"  but  that  thought  has  once  or  twice  miraculously 
interfered  with  it. 

I  do  not  at  all  wish  to  affect  your  own  way  of  thinking 
about  Christianity.  If  I  thought  it  possible  that  I  might 
do  so,  I  should  have  thought  twice  before  writing  thus. 
You  are  one  of  those,  I  believe,  to  whom  the  revelation  of 
God  does  not  rest  on  miracles,  tho'  the  miracles  of  our 
Lord's  Ufe  seem  to  you  naturally  to  arise  from  it.  That 
being  so,  there  is  an  essential  agreement  between  us,  if  only 
your  theology  will  let  you  think  it. 

The  more  I  can  know  of  what  passes  in  your  mind, 
the  better  I  shall  be  pleased ;  but  speculative  differences 
about  supreme  interests  may,  even  to  men  who  love  each 
other,  weU  make  serious  intercourse  difficult.  If  that 
should  prove  to  be  the  case  with  us — as  I  trust  it  may  not 
— you  may  still  be  sure  that  there  is  no  change  in  my  feeling 
towards  you,  and  I  shall  not  beUeve  that  there  is  any  in 
yours  towards  me.  If  ever  to  you,  or  in  your  hearing,  or 
in  words  that  reach  you  I  speak  hotly  about  the  clergy  or  the 
"  orthodox,"  you  must  understand  that  such  passing  heat 
(which  I  hope  to  prevent)  does  not  represent  my  inner  mind. 

One  warning  I  should  Uke  to  give  you  in  conclusion, 
tho'  perhaps  what  I  have  previously  told  you  about  my 
beliefs  will  make  you  think  that  I  am  not  enough  of  a 
Christian  for  the  warning  to  have  any  value — a  warning 
against  the  tendency,  to  which  sentiment  or  desire  for 
emotional  effects  or  current  clerical  opinion  might  incline 


68  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

you,  to  substitute,  for  the  moral  presence  of  God  in  the 
Church,  a  miraculous  and  mystical  one  ;  in  other  words, 
against  "  Sacerdotalism  and  SacramentaUsm."  Opinions 
about  evidence  don't  affect  the  essence  of  Christianity ; 
but  these  demoralise  it. 

With  a  general  apology  for  all  appearance  of  laying 
down  the  law,  and  all  good  wishes  for  your  future  hfe, 
Your  very  affectionate  T.  H.  Green. 

NettlesMp  to  Holland 

Dec.  31. — While  I  feel  the  strength  to  do  it  I  will  answer 
your  letter.  Every  word  of  it  is  true — true  for  me  as  for 
you — and  being  so,  I  see  nothing  else  to  do  than  to  say 
Goodbye.  For  me  at  least  it  is  no  use  to  go  on  gnawing 
my  heart  out  tr3dng  to  do  what  can  only  be  done  by  a 
vision  of  life  more  clear  and  a  belief  in  God  more  death- 
defjdng  than  the  vision  and  belief  which  I  have  got 
as  yet. 

So  let  us  give  up  trying  to  see  or  trying  not  to  see  each 
other — let  us  give  up  even  Thursday  evening.  Let  us  try 
and  Uve  worthily  of  each  other.  You  will  not  forget  me — 
1  shall  not  forget  you — there  is  no  fear  of  that.  Whatsoever 
things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  if  there  be 
any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise — there  for  me  is  the 
thought  of  you, 

1873  [cat.  26) 

His  longing  that  young  Oxford  dons  should  "  see  what 
was  really  happening "  in  London  slums,  and  should 
"  touch  the  new  spirit  of  irregulated  democracy,"  brought 
about  a  notable  venture,  in  Passion  Week  and  Holy  Week, 
at  St.  Saviour's,  Hoxton.  He  and  others  gave  a  series  of 
addresses  every  evening  at  8.45  :  and  on  Good  Friday 
there  was  the  Three  Hours'  service,  and  street-preaching. 
The  addresses,  or  lectures,  as  he  calls  them,  were  planned 
to  "  take  into  account  the  current  objections  against 
religion "  :  and  questions  were  invited  after  them.  It 
was  a  venture  indeed,  nearly  half  a  century  ago  :    and  it 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  69 

was  devised  and  led  by  him.  The  first  suggestion  may 
have  come  from  Copleston,  who  had  visited  Bradlaugh's 
Hall,  and  had  asked  whether  a  hearing  would  be  given  to 
speakers  from  Oxford  :  but  it  was  Holland  who  put  the 
whole  thing  through.  The  addresses  were  a  failure. 
"  Only  a  few  outsiders  ever  turned  up :  we  used  to  beg 
them  a  httle,  in  the  street,  to  come  :  but  they  won't  go 
to  a  church,  I  think."  But  the  street-preaching  was  not 
a  failure :  and  Holland  and  Moberly  repeated  it,  a  year 
later. 

To  Talbot 

1.  Oakley  writes  me  a  strong  letter  of  warnings  against 
disappointment.  We  cannot  gauge  his  parish's  temper 
beforehand  one  bit-^and  if  we  see  three  old  women  steadily 
listening  while  we  are  grappling  with  aU  the  difiiculties 
that  surround  modem  thought,  why,  we  must  grin  and 
bear  it !  We  shall  be  there  in  force  on  the  day  you  preach  : 
Cop,  you,  myself,  Moberly,  Fremantle,  Stanbridge  and 
perhaps  Salwey.  We  ought  to  go  with  you  in  a  body 
into  the  pulpit — it  is  a  good  big  one — and  express  by  our 
gestures  our  cordial  assent  with  your  words,  as  in  Raphael's 
cartoon  of  the  Apostles  at  the  death  of  Ananias.  It  might 
have  an  effect. 

2.  There  really  seemed  some  hope,  as  we  came  back 
from  the  street-preaching.  It  was  intensely  exciting, 
and,  we  were  inclined  to  say,  very  successful.  The  crowd 
gathered  in  a  moment,  a  real  Hve  dirty  crowd  of  roughs 
and  streety  women  ;  they  followed  us — they  sang  a  bit ; 
they  Hstened  with  extraordinary  intentness,  and  solemnity. 
Only  the  little  children  attempted  mockery,  and  Cop 
administered  such  an  overwhelming  rebuke  to  them,  wind- 
ing up  with  the  most  awful  warnings  of  the  children  and 
the  bears  and  the  bald-headed  prophet,  that  that  was  put 
straight.*     A   jolly   mason   came   swinging   along   by   my 

♦  Bishop  Copleston,  recalling  his  fifty  years'  friendship  with  Holland, 
says,  "  He  and  I  preached  in  the  streets  together,  and  I  well  and  vividly 
remember  a  characteristic  incident.  Some  children  were  disturbing  and 
rude,  and  in  rebuking  them  I  was  absurd  enough  to  warn  them  by  the 
fate  of  those  who  mocked  EUsha  !     Dear  Holland's  amusement  at  this 


70  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

side,  catching  up  the  "  Rock  of  Ages,"  which  he  had  sung 
long  ago,  I  fancied,  and  delighting  in  the  remembrance 
of  tune  and  words — Cop's  bhnd  beggar  dogged  his  steps— 
and  we  hope  even  buns  at  the  Church  house  may  have  been 
forgotten  for  a  bit.  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  final 
march  to  the  Church  door — the  swarm  of  people  in  the 
dark  and  drizzle  coming  down  the  street  with  the  cassocked 
clergy  at  their  head,  shouting  the  old  hymns,  closing  at 
the  very  door  of  the  Church  which  looked  so  bright  and 
warm,  as  Oakley  turned  and  said,  "  Come  in,  all  of  you, 
service  just  beginning,  come  in." 

Do  you  think  the  association  would  lend  itself  to  a 
scheme  for  organising  a  connection  between  Oxford  and 
the  socialistic  spirit  which  springs  out  of  the  misery  of 
our  great  cities  ?  The  purpose  of  the  plan  would  be  not 
so  much  philanthropy,  as  contact  with  one  of  the  greatest 
questions  of  the  day,  a  question  more  important  in  a 
religious  than  in  any  other  sense.  The  sort  of  idea  I  had 
was  of  a  mission-house  in  the  East  of  London,  kept  up  by 
us  for  a  couple  of  months  in  the  Long  Vac.  The  object 
should  be  distinctly  to  get  food  for  thought. 

In  April,  he  sent  in  an  essay  for  the  EUerton  Theological 
Prize,  but  failed  to  win  it.     He  writes  to  Fremantle — 

I  wrote  Ellerton  hard  yesterday  morning — finished  it 
a  httle  more  thoroughly  than  I  expected,  though  as  all 
such  things  are,  very  loose  and  irregular  and  unsaid  about 
the  end.  It  contains  56  full-sized  foolscap  pages,  undoubled 
up.  I  think  it  goes  on  pretty  straight  and  clear,  though 
I  did  nothing  but  the  first  writing  ;  and  I  always  write 
without  a  definite  scheme,  letting  it  take  its  form  as  it  goes. 
I  had  time  to  look  through  some  of  it,  and  there  did  not 
seem  to  be  many  words  left  out,  and  a  good  lot  of  the  words 
were  spelt  right :  so  let  us  hope.  I  feel  I  shall  be  rather 
drawn  at  the  grind  of  it,  if  I  don't  get  it. 

On  May  4,  he  writes  to  his  sister,  just  after  the  anniver- 
sary of  Dasent's  death  : — 

want  of  tact  was  unbounded  :  he  returned  to  it  again  and  again,  with  sheer 
delight.  You  would  have  thought  he  loved  me  the  more  for  it,  incon- 
ceivably priggish  as  it  now  appears." 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  71 

There  Is  something  in  anniversaries  which  impresses 
one  to  a  degree  that  seems  irrational.  The  old  things 
revive  and  crawl  about  in  the  sun  once  more — and  most 
of  what  I  felt  last  year  came  back  to  me,  the  shame,  the 
wonder,  the  shadow  of  I  knew  not  what,  the  solemnity, 
the  exaltation  into  an  atmosphere  cut  off  from  all  the  rest 
of  Hfe.  Dear  Houblon  came  in  on  the  day,  to  see  us.  The 
Dasents  had  all  been  down  the  day  before  (his  birthday). 
There  are  no  blue-bells  out  this  year  :  I  remember  gathering 
such  heaps  last  year,  to  fill  Manuel's  coffin.  We  had  a 
Hoxton  gathering  last  night,  and  a  terrific  talk  over  what 
we  are  to  do.  The  great  conclusion  was,  that  the  idea 
of  a  centre  outside  Oxford  was  impossible  ;  but  we  would 
form  a  centre  here,  to  which  Oakleys,  etc.,  would  apply. 
A  Mr.  Coutts  of  Haverstoke  has  asked  us  to  give  lectures 
under  a  railway  arch  to  working  men.  Also  we  are  medi- 
tating arranging  with  Col.  Chesney  of  Cooper's  Hill  College 
to  preach  to  his  young  Engineers.  Altogether  we  are 
lively. 

In  July,  he  was  with  a  reading-party  at  Roscoff,  in 
Brittany.  He  writes  to  Fremantle,  who  was  reading  at 
Tiibingen : — 

Hotel  des  Bains,  Roscoff.  July  4. — We  get  on  very  well 
as  yet :  read  hard ;  live  in  French  ways,  two  meals  a  day. 
I  have  begun  Renan's  Antichrist,  which  is  exciting  and 
beautiful,  and  am  struggUng  at  Strauss.  Sunday  it  poured 
with  rain  ;  so  I  preached  to  half-a-dozen  people,  which 
was  rather  a  bore  as  I  had  written  a  sermon  on  congregational 
worship.  July  17. — Here  we  go  on  very  happily — rather 
chalhngly,  but  this  is  natural  when  we  are  reading  very  hard, 
which  we  are  :  still,  it  makes  me  discontented  now  and  then 
with  myself.  I  cannot  ever  "  force  a  card "  ;  I  never 
could  :  nothing  will  enable  me  to  "  lead  a  conversation  " 
naturally  in  any  fixed  direction.  It  is  a  part  of  my  character 
to  take  up  what  comes  and  work  it ;  and  if  nobody  is  incHned 
to  "  talk  big,"  I  cannot,  however  much  I  wish,  bring  it 
on.  Paris.  July  31. — After  all,  I  had  three  or  four 
impetuous    and    heated    discussions  with    Paget  * — but    I 

*  Francis  Paget:     born  March  20,    1851  :     Shrewsbury,    1864-1869: 
unior   Studentship,    Christ    Church,    1869 :     Hertford    Scholarship    and 


72  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

never  feel  as  if  I  did  myself  justice  in  discussion  (though 
I  know  this  is  a  wholesome  humihation) — still  I  did  speak 
and  that  earnestly — but  1  fear  without  effect  on  Paget : 
I  do  certainly  feel  an  apostle  when  my  philosophy  is  in 
danger,  and  can  really  faU  on  my  knees  then  and  pray  that 
"  the  cause  "  may  not  suffer  from  my  weak  defence  :  I 
can  feel  a  "  perisse  notre  memoire  pourvu  que  la  France 
soit  libre  "  sort  of  feeUng. 


From  Francis  Paget 

Aug.  i8. — I  have  so  very  much  to  thank  you  for,  that 
it  will  be  a  rehef  to  say  some  of  my  thanks.  I  owe  you  so 
much  that  all  the  great  pleasure  of  our  month  at  Roscoff 
is  the  least  item  in  my  debt.  All  the  time  we  were  there, 
and  even  before  we  went,  I  had  been  wanting  to  ask  you 
about  things  :  and  yet  I  never  could  make  up  my  mind  to 
do  it,  until  just  at  the  last :  and  then,  you  know,  you  told 
me  what  I  wanted,  and  what  your  letter  completes  and 
fixes.  For  a  long  time  before  that,  I  had  been  kept  straight, 
more  or  less,  by  a  rather  shaky  family  affection,  and  a 
tottering  dishke  for  the  vulgarity  of  atheism  and  wrong  : 
but  these,  I  felt,  might  go  at  any  minute  ;  and  I  had  nothing 
trustworthy  that  I  knew  of  to  back  them  up  or  do  instead  of 
them.  You  see,  I  could  understand  all  the  destructive  and 
grosser  philosophy  well  enough  :  but  though  I  had  heard 
a  good  deal  of  the  other,  I  had  never  seen  where  it  came 
in  or  what  it  meant  and  did  for  one.  1  suppose  I  was  what 
people  call  unsettled  :  anyhow,  it  made  me  very  wretched 
now  and  then  :  and  my  future  looked  worse  than  my  present. 
You  know  what  you  have  done  for  me,  better  than  I  can 
tell  you  :  and  you  know  too  how  impossible  it  is  that  I 
should  thank  you  for  it.  Only  there  is  not  a  single  turn 
at  which  it  does  not  meet  me,  or  a  single  relation  of  hfe 
which  is  not  altered  by  it :  so  that  I  want  you  to  know  that 
you  have  done  me  some  good  :  more,  I  think,  than  any  one 
has  ever  done  me  before,  in  any  direct  way. 

Chancellor's  Prize  for  Latin  Verse,  1871.  First  class  in  Final  Schools, 
and  Senior  Studentship,  Dec.  1873.  Ordained  deacon  1875,  priest  1877. 
Married  Helen  Beatrice,  daughter  of  Dean  Church,  1883.  Vicar  of  Broms- 
grove,  1883-85  :  Regius  Professor  of  Pastoral  Theology  in  Oxford,  1885-91  : 
Dean  of  Christ  Church,  1 892-1901  :  Bishop  of  Oxford,  1902-1911  ; 
died  Aug.  2,  191 1. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  73 

In  August,  Holland  and  his  sister  were  at  Remagen. 
"  The  place  is  beautiful,"  he  writes  to  Fremantle,  Aug.  8, 
"as  far  as  Rhine  beauty  goes  :  and  perched  on  a  high  rock 
above  the  town  is  a  lovely  Httle  church,  St.  Apollinaris, 
gorgeously  painted,  with  a  Franciscan  convent,  into  the 
garden  of  which,  hung  by  high  walls  over  the  river,  we  have 
found  means  to  penetrate ;  and  there  we  read  the  whole 
afternoon,  in  perfect  peace  and  joy,  only  broken-in  upon 
by  quiet  brown  frati  who  water  their  flowers.  I  am  horribly 
disappointed  in  my  German  :  I  had  got  on  so  weU  in  my 
reading  it  at  Roscoff,  having  ground  through  the  whole 
of  Strauss,  624  very  big  pages,  and  a  lot  of  Zeller  on  Plato — 
but  I  find  that  talking  is  hopeless."  *  On  Aug.  16,  he  WTites 
again  :  Fremantle  had  taken  him  to  task  for  "  frivoUty  " 
at  Roscoff :  "  I  quite  agree  with  you  about  its  being  useless 
to  fret  at  outside  frivolity  without  being  serious  within, 
but  I  think  you  were  a  bit  hard  upon  me.  I  was  struggling 
a  good  deal  within,  during  the  Roscoff  time  ;  1  had  been 
reading  a  great  deal  of  Strauss  and  Renan,  and  they  laid 
a  great  stress  on  me  to  settle  the  Ufe-and-death  questions — 
so  that  I  felt  the  weight  of  the  word  upon  me  in  all  serious- 
ness— but  I  have  a  great  ease  in  taking  up  any  sort  of  mood 
externally  without  its  affecting  the  main  current  of  my  hfe  : 
it  comes  quite  natural  to  me  to  enjoy  the  things  about  me 
at  the  very  time  that  I  am  striving  about  things  to  myself. 
I  am  fairly  astounded  myself  at  the  rapidity  with  which 
I  can  pass  from  the  seriousest  to  the  slightest  things  without 
any  shock  and  effort — I  could  not  beheve  it  in  another." 

On    Dec.  28,  by  Liddon's  invitation,  he  preached  in 

*  Miss  Murray,  who  met  them  at  Remagen,  remembers  that  they 
had  made  friends  with  an  elderly  German  lady,  "  who  continued  to  warn 
Lilly,  though  they  had  hardly  a  word  in  common,  that  the  books  her 
brother  was  trying  to  read  were  most  mischievous  and  dangerous :  she 
was  sure  they  could  not  know  this,  and  she  could  tell  him  oi  dehghtful 
books,  in  which  to  learn  the  language,  that  would  do  him  no  harm." 
From  Remagen,  they  went  to  the  Schumann  Festival  at  Bonn. 


74  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

St.  Paul's,  at  the  Sunday  evening  service ;  though  he  was 
not  yet  in  priests'  orders.  It  was  perhaps  the  first  time  on 
record  that  a  deacon  has  preached  in  St.  Paul's.* 

To  Talbot 

I  suppose  that  I  got  through  the  St.  Paul's  sermon  fairly 
happily  :  I  enjoyed  it  very  much  myself — and  managed  to 
be  heard  :  and  the  place  looks  so  splendid  with  that  mass 
of  people.  I  felt  that  the  sermon  was  pantheistic,  and 
feared  rather  for  Liddon's  feeUngs  ;  I  do  not  think  that 
it  was  in  a  vein  which  he  would  Hke — but  I  could  not  help 
it.  I  tried  to  alter  and  rewrite  it,  and  found  myself  back 
in  the  old  groove  rather  deeper  than  before.  I  still  think 
that  it  was  an  opportunity  beyond  the  deserts  of  a  man  of 
my  age  :  it  makes  me  feel  so  much  the  start  given  one  by 
being  fairly  orthodox.  Life  is  all  smoothed  down,  and  made 
so  easy ;  there  is  none  of  the  discipUne  suppUed  by  the 
need  to  struggle  up  to  the  light  of  public  day :  there  is 
no  room  for  the  rough  improvement  that  natural  selection 
works  on  men's  characters.  It  is  only  giants  Hke  Goethe 
that  can  afford  to  have  Ufe  made  comfortable,  without 
losing  authority  and  without  missing  the  training.  It 
is  so  difficult  to  recognise  the  bearings  of  the  time,  when 
all  flows  along  so  easily  :  so  hard  to  contradict  it,  when  it 
behaves  so  kindly  to  one.  I  cannot  but  see ' '  self-complacency 
as  the  real  clerical  vice  :  the  self-complacency  of  knowing 
that  you,  at  least,  have  explained  hfe  quite  easily,  and  can 
only  pity  those  who  find  the  answer  to  the  riddle  so  hard 
to  find.  We  are  very  ready  to  explain  our  position  to  the 
benighted  souls  who  cannot  make  it  out — very  anxious 
that  they  should  stand  where  we  do  :   but  it  is  never  forced 

*  Fremantle  to  Miss  Holland. — ^My  impression  is  that  everybody 
was  all  ears,  and  that  everybody  could  hear.  I  said  to  myself,  Yes,  it 
will  do — he  can  and  wiU  be  a  great  preacher — it  is  all  there — and  the 
important  thing  is  not  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  deUvery,  etc.,  but  to  keep 
up  the  study  and  thought  whence  the  material  for  sermons  is  to  be  furnished. 
It  will  not  do  for  him  to  be  simply  a  brilliant  popular  preacher,  but  he 
must  be  (what  his  gifts  point  him  out  to  be)  a  philosophical  preacher. 
I  was  rather  concerned,  and  Liddon  was  as  I  expected  rather  displeased, 
at  certain  theological  statements — "  paradoxes,"  Liddon  called  them — 
about  the  nature  of  God,  etc.,  and  it  is  there  that  I  see  the  danger  against 
which  S.  ought  to  guard  carefully.     All  this  I  told  him  yesterday. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  75 

upon  us  as  a  matter  of  life  or  death,  "  Have  you  got  hold 
of  the  truth,  or  have  you  not  ?  "  It  is  never  said  to  us 
by  the  necessities  of  society,  "  You  shall  say  this,  or  starve," 
and  then  we  have  chosen  to  starve  rather  than  say  it. 
How  are  we  to  supply  the  sturdy  discipUne  that  tries  the 
unorthodox  so  severely  ?  We  have  the  plums  ;  and  there 
is  no  denying  it. 


1874  {cBt.  27) 

This  was  the  year  of  the  Newquay  reading-party : 
of  Fremantle's  death :  and  of  Holland's  ordination  as 
priest. 

To  Fremantle 

Easter  Day,  Gayton  Lodge.  [After  the  second  visit  to 
Hoxton) . — I  preached  Monday,  Tuesday,  "Wednesday,  Friday 
evenings — and  again  here  this  morning — besides  once 
with  the  Sisters,  and  two  things  in  the  streets  :  and  you 
know  the  constant  little  churches,  and  the  furiously  late 
hours.  It  is  a  great  comfort  to  feel  the  pressure  of  that 
Ufe  about  one,  and  to  think  one  is  just  speaking  a  word 
or  two  to  help  it.  Sermons  I  hked  as  much  as  ever,  especially 
my  Good  Friday  one.  The  street  preaching  was  much  as 
last  time.  We  went  to  some  rougher  parts.  Moberly, 
the  subUme,  spoke  with  a  wonderful  amount  of  go  and  fervour 
— though  stiU  rather  fuU  of  refinements  and  shadings. 

To  his  Sister 

I.  April  8  [A  belated  birthday  letter). — It  must  be 
somebody's  birthday  to-day,  it  looked  so  loving  and  splendid 
and  good.  Oxford  is  ideal  in  these  early  spring  beauties. 
The  sunlight  hes  along  these  meadows  with  a  softness 
peculiar  to  them,  I  think  :  I  looked  from  Shotover  to-day, 
and  the  thin  white  haze  lay  round  Oxford  Hke  soft  light  wool 
among  her  towers,  just  for  her  to  rest  in,  and  to  make 
her  gentle  and  peaceful,  like  sheep's  wool  twisted  in  among 
the  sticks  to  make  a  nest  cosy  and  downy  and  dear.  We  go 
on  very  quietly  :  the  boys  are  not  noisy  :  and,  I  think, 
I  know  more  of  them  than  before. 


76  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

2.  Eothan  House,  New  Quay.  July. — We  find  lots  to 
do.  We  have  played  a  cricket-match,  Oxford  against  the 
New  Quay  Cricket  Club,  and  we  are  purposing  a  match 
at  hockey,  which  we  play  on  the  sands  with  great  vigour. 
The  boys  are  charming :  they  do  credit  to  Christ  Church  : 
they  are  so  good ;  and  full  of  life.  But  they  do  not  think 
much  about  deep  things  :  and  I  find  a  lacking  in  that. 
There  is  no  discussion,  no  inroad  of  new  thoughts  about 
things.  They  are  outside  the  philosophical  atmosphere — 
and  this  is  bad  for  one.  The  talk  is  so  endlessly  on  the 
little  details  of  fife — they  know  such  a  mass  of  little  detached 
things — but  it  never  gets  beyond  this.  I  do  not  know 
quite  what  to  do.  I  always  find  it  difficult  to  press-in 
subjects ;  and,  in  the  intervals  of  work,  the  rest  of  trifling 
is  sweet — but  it  is  unsatisfactory. 

Newquay,  in  1874,  was  a  rough,  undrained  Httle  place : 
Fremantle,  Francis  Paget,  and  Greenwood  got  typhoid 
fever  :  others  "were  weak  and  sick  for  a  bit,  but  escaped 
the  fever":  Holland  was  one  of  those  who  escaped 
altogether.  Paget  and  Greenwood  came  near  dying : 
Fremantle  died  at  home,  at  Swanbourne,  Winslow; 
September  16,  1874.  Holland  was  at  Cuddesdon  that  day,  for 
his  examination  ;  was  at  Swanbourne  on  the  17th  ;  was 
ordained  priest  on  the  20th ;  and  celebrated  for  the  first 
time,  at  Swanbourne,  on  the  22nd,  the  day  of  the  funeral. 

To  Ady 

Sept.  ly. — Have  you  heard  it  ?  He  is  quite  quietly, 
quite  gently,  gone,  and  we  shall  see  him  no  more.  He  went 
away  yesterday  evening  at  6.30,  sinking,  without  a  struggle. 
I  am  going  to  Swanbourne  this  evening,  just  for  the  night. 
I  am  in  the  middle  of  my  papers,  and  do  them  as  I  can. 
But  the  ordination  is  deepened  and  sanctified  more  than  I 
can  say  by  all  this.  I  cannot  write  more.  We  shall  see 
each  other  to  bury  his  dear  body :  and  at  the  retreat. 
God  be  with  us  both  through  life.  Sept.  21. — I  cannot 
tell  you  what  yesterday  was  to  me  :  to  be  admitted  a  priest 
of  that  kingdom  where  he  is  :  to  stand  inside  the  veil, 
and  feel  stirring  about  one  those  very  spiritual  powers 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1871-1874  77 

which  hold  his  soul  in  life  :  to  feel  on  one's  head  the  Hand 
of  Jesus  fresh  from  taking  him  to  Himself  :  how,  through 
one's  tears,  one  could  bless  God  for  all  this. 


To  Miss  Julia  Cartwright  * 

Oct.  7. — I  longed  to  write  to  you.  I  felt  it  almost  wrong 
that  I  should  have  the  immense  joy  and  privilege  of  looking 
on  that  beautiful  face,  as  I  did  for  one  hurried  night  between 
the  papers  of  an  ordination-examination — look  on  it  lying 
there,  as  it  had  lain  so  many  weeks  in  sickness,  more  lovely, 
more  gentle,  more  calm,  more  perfectly  holy  than  ever  I  had 
seen  it  even  in  life,  so  quiet  I  could  hardly  beheve  he  did  not 
breathe — so  Hke  himself  that  I  had  to  call  out  his  dear  name 
to  make  sure  that  he  did  not  hear  ;  so  sweet  and  unfretting, 
and  pure,  that  I  knew  the  sickness  had  been  doing  God's  work 
through  all  those  long  silent  half-conscious  hours,  its  wonder- 
ful work  of  refining  and  purging  and  purifying.  I  wish 
I  could  convey  to  you  half  the  marvellous  glory  and  charm 
of  that  last  look  of  his,  so  delicate  and  smiUng  and  winning, 
that  you  might  have  for  ever  that  pleasant  memory,  to 
store  away,  and  look  at  in  dark  days  to  come.  I  kissed 
him,  and  could  not  help  telling  him  in  his  ear  to  remember 
me  and  all  who  loved  him,  as  we  should  remember  him — 
and,  from  that  hour,  I  have  felt  a  sense  of  something  strange, 
exalted,  glorified,  divine,  in  all  my  thoughts  of  him  :  and 
I  cannot  grieve  for  him  ;  it  has  seemed  almost  a  mockery 
to  talk  of  the  work  he  might  yet  have  done,  or  of  the  hopes 
we  had  of  him — so  small,  and  pitiful,  and  unmeaning,  they 
all  seemed  by  the  side  of  that  splendid  hope  we  have  now 
given  us  of  him. 

In  October,  he  got  the  relief  of  a  week  in  Wales,  with 
Copleston  ;  tramping,  and  taking  everything  as  it  came  : — 

It  was  sHpped  in  so  quickly  and  quietly  between  Oxford 
things.     We   cut    ourselves   off   entirely   from   everything. 

*  Her  writings  in  biography  and  in  criticism  are  known  far  and  wide. 
She  is  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Aubrey  Cartwright,  and  a  grand-daughter  of 
the  first  Lord  Cottesloe  :  thus,  Fremantle  was  her  uncle :  but  there  was 
no  marked  difference  of  age  between  them.  She  and  W.  H.  Ady  were 
married  in  1880.  Their  daughter.  Miss  Cecilia  M.  Ady,  one  of  Holland's 
many  godchildren,  is  Vice- Principal  of  St.  Hugh's  College,  Oxford. 


78  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

We  said  nothing  about  Stephen,  hardly.  The  first  days, 
I  felt  quite  drained  of  all  thought  and  talk — and  after  that, 
I  never  can  bring  in  a  subject — and  Copleston  probably 
thought  it  best  for  us  to  Hve  by  the  day — and  the 
days  were  charming.  We  reached  our  climax  about 
Abergavenny.  The  whole  week  towered  up  to  this.  It 
was  the  loveliest  day  of  all — the  walk  was  ideal :  and 
we  saw  a  face  so  splendidly  beautiful  in  a  certain  village-inn 
that  it  drew  up  the  influences  of  the  whole  walk  into  itself 
— I  have  never  felt  before  so  strongly  the  force  of  Wordsworth's 
"  Highland  Girl  " — and  then  at  last  a  Welsh  clergyman 
and  his  wife,  the  ideal  of  all  that  was  simple  and  could 
ever  be  Welsh  :  people  it  was  an  everlasting  pleasure  to 
watch  and  hear. 


After  the  first  Sunday  in  term,  he  writes  to  his  mother  : — 

It  was  at  the  morning  celebration,  which  he  never 
missed,  that  I  felt  most  vividly  the  wretched  sense  of  some- 
thing lost — and  yet  it  was  just  then  when  the  whole  force 
of  the  Communion  of  Saints  streamed  into  me,  and  I  knew 
that  I  belonged  to  one  Body  with  him,  that  I  on  earth  and 
he  in  heaven  felt  at  that  moment  the  same  impulse  and  were 
being  fed  and  sustained  by  the  same  life.  It  is  marvellous 
how  inspiring  and  awful,  and  triumphant,  the  great  chant 
becomes,  under  the  pressure  of  a  love  lost,  as  the  mighty 
words  lead  off  so  strongly  and  confidently — "  Therefore  with 
angels  and  archangels  and  with  all  the  Company  of  Heaven 
we  laud  and  magnify  Thy  glorious  name." 

On  All  Saints  Day,  he  preached  at  Eton  :  *  he  writes 
to  Ady : — 

*  Nettleship  to  Spencer  Holland.  Nov.  g. — Scott  will  have  told  you 
that  I  went  down  to  Eton  yesterday  week  to  hear  him  preach.  He  must 
have  been  enormously  astonished,  and  I  could  hardly  keep  from  laughing 
myself  when  I  saw  him  up  at  the  end  of  the  chapel  and  wondered  when 
he  would  see  me.  It  was  very  odd  :  I  had  meant  to  go  there  in  old  days 
so  often,  and  had  never  been.  Of  course  the  sermon  was  splendid.  I  leant 
back  in  my  seat  and  wondered  whether  I  should  have  recognised  the  voice 
shouting  away  up  there  to  be  the  same  voice  that  I  was  used  to.  I  don't 
know  whether  they  took  it  all  in^ — not  all,  I  should  think :  but  it  is  a  good 
thing  even  for  Eton  boys  to  have  to  think  there  is  something  they  can't 
quite  understand. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,   1871-1874  79 

All  Saints  Day  to  me  was  filled  to  overflowing  with 
thoughts  and  memories  of  him.  To  stand  up  in  that 
splendid  Chapel  amid  those  crowded  ranks  of  boys,  and 
speak  of  the  Communion  of  Saints,  gave  me  one  of  the 
divinest  joys  that  this  earth  has  yet  brought  me.  It  spoke 
all  round  me  so  marvellously  of  him — and  it  was  just  the 
memory  of  him  with  which  I  associate  you  so  completely : 
and  you  and  Evans,  and  all  the  happy  fun  were  hving  in 
my  heart  that  day.  You  know  the  wonderful  sight  of 
the  evening  service  :  there  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  world  : 
the  flood  of  boys  overflowing ;  rows  after  rows  shining 
down  right  up  to  the  far  altar  rails  :  and  the  rushing  storming 
organ,  and  the  soaring  ghostly  windows,  and  the  white 
walls  towering  and  shining :  and  the  light  and  glow  and 
music,  and  bright  faces  set  in  the  framework  of  lovely 
woodcarving  :  and  the  old,  old  look  of  the  boys,  the  very 
same  hair  and  eyes  as  of  old,  and  the  small  boys  laughing, 
and  the  sixth  form  marching  with  the  old  swing,  a  Lyttelton 
among  them  ;  and  the  quaint,  historic  faces  of  the  masters, 
so  strange  and  so  famihar — and  to  think  how  well  he  knew 
it  all,  and  how  every  Une  of  it  must  Hve  in  him,  and  be 
mixed  up  with  him,  and  was  loved  by  him,  and  knit  him 
up  with  you  and  me  in  a  memory  that  nothing  here  or 
hereafter  could  ever  sever  or  undo. 


IV 

CHRIST    CHURCH,    1875-1878 

He  was  at  Christ  Church  during  its  Renaissance  period, 
under  the  magnificent  rule  of  Dean  Liddell,  when  its  build- 
ings were  being  made  every  year  more  beautiful.  He 
was  happy  in  his  surroundings,  his  work,  and  his  friend- 
ships :  he  could  not  complain  that  High  Table  and  Common- 
room  were  dull :  he  came  to  be  heartily  in  love  with  Christ 
Church.  But  he  resented  the  touch  of  pride  and  ex- 
travagance. Balliol,  with  Jowett  and  Green  and  Nettleship 
and  Arnold  Toynbee,  had  been  less  observant  of  rank, 
more  keen  over  social  problems,  more  insistent  on  learning, 
more  adventurous  of  teaching.  But  there  was  Keble, 
with  Talbot,  Illingworth,  Arthur  Lyttelton,  Lock,  and 
Aubrey  Moore  :  and  Copleston,  till  1876,  at  St.  John's  : 
and  Gore  just  passing  from  Balliol  to  Trinity.  Besides, 
he  had  many  other  friends  in  Oxford  society,  and  in  the 
Oxford  musical  and  hterary  societies :  he  fluttered  the 
Browning  Society,  in  1884,  with  a  bewildering  Httle  paper, 
half  serious  half  mocking,  on  "  The  FHght  of  the  Duchess  "  : 
all  Oxford  was  proud  of  him,  thoagh  some  may  have  been 
inclined  to  reckon  him,  in  Lord  Morley's  phrase,  among 
the  "  purveyors  of  cloudy  stuff."  His  Hfe  in  Oxford  turned 
on  the  poles  of  Christ  Church  and  Keble  :  but  he  hid  this 
dark  secret  of  his  affection  for  Keble  from  the  Christ  Church 
undergraduates. 

80 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  81 

To  an  average  one  of  them,  in  1874-78,  inclined  toward 
books  and  the  problems  of  religion,  he  was  a  wonder,  in 
whom  Greek  philosophy  and  the  Catholic  faith  were  met 
together :  but  a  most  human  wonder,  loving  athletics  and 
music  and  poetry  and  friendship  and  laughter  and  chaff, 
never  for  a  moment  off  his  stroke  or  not  at  his  best,  always 
miles  ahead  of  the  crowd,  as  if  nothing  were  difficult  or 
dull  to  him.  He  would  have  brought  down  the  walls  of 
Jericho  by  racing  round  them  in  flannels,  shouting  and 
singing  and  mocking  at  them  for  being  so  absurdly  solid. 
He  could  reduce  the  most  intractable  problems,  and  have 
them  under  control,  with  the  flick  of  a  jest :  as  he  said, 
on  a  reading-party  in  1876,  to  one  of  us  who  was  fascinated 
by  the  distinction  between  the  primary  and  the  secondary 
quahties  of  matter — "  Ah,  the  old  green  world  buzzing  away 
by  itself :  no,  I'm  afraid  we  mustn't  believe  in  that." 
Or  his  estimate  of  "  the  dismal  science,"  about  that  same 
year,  at  a  little  dinner  in  Francis  Paget's  rooms — "  Imagine 
putting  up  a  stained  glass  window  to  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Political  Economy."  Or  an  offhand  saying  at  an  under- 
graduates' tea-party — "  Sanday  has  discovered  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  New  Testament.  We  all  thought  it  was 
there  :  but  we  are  surer  than  ever,  now  that  Sanday  has 
found  it."  But  his  wit  and  his  irony  went  hand  in  hand 
with  courtesy  and  love  of  good  form.  He  had  constant 
insight  into  little  pecuharities  of  character ;  but  he  was 
so  courteous,  that  men  hardly  reahsed  that  he  was  seeing 
into  them.  He  must  judge  for  himself  of  all  men  :  it  was 
not  in  him,  to  be  obsequious  or  imitative  :  he  could  never 
be  a  copy  or  an  echo  of  somebody  else.  Only,  in  the  later 
years  in  London,  his  judgment  of  men  was  impaired  by 
his  passionate  longing  to  improve  the  social  system  :  and 
he  put  faith  in  some  who  did  not  deserve  it.  He  would  go 
a  very  long  way  with  anybody,  over  a  good  cause. 

G 


82  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Of  his  lectures,  no  precise  list  can  be  made  now.  So 
early  as  1871,  he  was  lecturing  on  the  Republic  :  "I  have 
very  old  men  in  beards,  and  Dasent  mocking  at  my  feet." 
In  1873,  he  was  giving  an  introductory  course  on  the 
Gospels,  with  special  reference  to  W.  H.  Mill's  book  on 
their  "  mythical  interpretation."  In  1877,  he  was  giving 
two  courses  of  lectures,  one  on  the  Republic,  the  other  on 
St.  John's  Gospel.  There  was  at  this  time  very  httle 
inter-collegiate  teaching :  he  took  part  in  it  very  early 
in  its  history,  but  in  1877  there  was  next  to  none  :  the 
old  men  in  grey  beards  had  vanished  :  there  may  be  a 
mythical  interpretation  of  them  :  he  was  lecturing  to  a 
small  class,  about  a  dozen  undergraduates.  We  had  no 
desire  to  share  him  with  other  colleges  :  he  belonged  to 
us,  not  to  "  out-college  men,"  whom  some  of  us  called 
Squills,  i.e.  dwellers  on  the  Esquiline. 

To  hear  him  lecture  on  Plato,  and  on  St.  John  was  a 
memorable  experience.  There  was  not  only  the  sense  of 
escape  from  less  inspiring  lecturers  into  the  presence  of  a 
young  man  of  genius  ;  not  only  the  pleasure  of  listening 
to  him,  feehng  after  his  thoughts,  enjo3dng  his  goodwill, 
in  his  own  room,  with  Jeremiah  and  St.  George  and  Colleoni 
to  keep  us  company  :  there  was  above  all  the  sense  that  he 
passionately  desired  us  to  beUeve  what  he  was  saying. 
He  made  us  quite  sure  that  we  should  be  fools,  and  worse 
than  fools,  if  we  did  not  care  what  we  believed ;  and  that 
Plato  and  St.  John,  between  them,  knew  all  that  we  should 
ever  know,  and  more,  of  God  and  man.  As  it  was  said  of 
lUingworth's  lectures  on  St.  John,  "  The  Logos  meant 
something  then,  meant  everything — even  the  freshman 
felt  that  it  did."  But,  after  more  than  forty  years,  all 
lectures,  even  Holland's,  are  forgotten.  He  used  to  stand 
at  his  tall  desk,  as  he  lectured  ;  now  and  again  moving 
about  the  room.     One  of  us  remembers  his  delight  over 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  83 

the  sound  of  the  word  Sophrosune,  and  over  the  argument, 
in  the  second  book  of  the  RepubHc,  that  the  simple  life 
would  not  long  remain  simple  ;  men  would  demand  sauce 
with  their  bread.  Another  remembers  his  study  of  Cephalus, 
in  the  first  book ;  the  quiet  old  man  who  leaves  Socrates 
to  deal  with  Polemarchus,  and  goes  back  to  attend  to  the 
sacrifices  :  and  his  study  of  the  talk  with  the  woman  of 
Samaria  :  it  had  really  happened  :  nobody  would  have 
invented  the  fact  that  she  left  her  waterpot  at  the  well. 

But  these  things  are  nothing :  he  was  everything. 
We  all  wanted  to  get  to  Plato  and  St.  John  ;  and  here 
was  a  man,  not  much  older  than  ourselves,  who  had  got 
to  them — pushing  his  way,  with  a  laugh  and  a  shove  of 
the  shoulders,  through  all  our  difficulties.  His  philosophy 
and  his  religion,  as  anybody  could  see,  made  him  what  he 
was  :  we  could  thus  be  confident  that  Herbert  Spencer 
had  not  said  the  last  word  on  these  subjects.  There  is  a 
reference,  in  H.  W.  Nevinson's  "  Between  the  Acts,"  to 
the  look  of  Holland  coming  up  Hall  to  High  Table  :  "he 
always  sprang  over  the  ground  Uke  the  feet  that  bring 
good  tidings  ;  and  the  whole  young  High  Church  party, 
in  imitation  of  him,  seemed  to  leap  for  joy  as  they  walked." 


1875   [cBt.  28) 

To  Talbot 

I.  Jan.  21.  [With  a  design  for  the  "  Timothy  window  " 
in  Cathedral,  in  memory  of  Fremantle.) — I  feel  sure  a  window 
ought  to  have  a  single  design  or  subject  throughout ;  and 
this  ought  to  be  one  which  the  public  would  recognise, 
as  well  as  the  private  friends.  Timothy  seems  to  me  to 
represent  the  delight  of  an  obedient  and  dutiful  spirit  in 
accepting  the  magnificent  heritage  of  a  great  system 
embracing  life  in  all  its  details.  He  is  the  type  of  the 
highest  order  of  secondary  minds,  men  who  carry  on  work, 


84  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

but  do  not  create  by  genius  a  new  era.  Then  there  are 
minor  points  so  like  Stephen  :  the  youthful  charge  to  teach, 
and  to  ordain — then  the  "  Hold  fast  the  form  of  sound 
words  " — and  the  mingling  of  small  practical  hfe  up  with 
the  big  things,  from  the  "  cloak  at  Troas  "  to  the  "  little 
wine  for  thy  stomach's  sake  " — all  this  is  just  hke  him. 
I  should  Hke  the  top  centre  light  to  be  higher  than  the 
others,  so  that  our  Lord's  figure  should  run  up  close  into 
the  tracery  at  the  top  :  where  there  would  be  angels  with 
much  music. 

2.  Feh.  19.  [After  a  meeting  of  the  theological  society.) — 
I  felt  very  anxious  to  send  you  a  word  about  last  night's 
talk,  because  I  came  away  feeling  as  if  I  had  not  kept  in 
harmony  with  the  true  unity  of  faith  between  us  all.  It 
was  difficult — but  I  thought  you  wanted  us  to  be  bold 
in  saying  our  most  chaotic  thoughts  about  the  Old  Testa- 
ment :  and,  in  doing  so,  we  must  seem  to  be  to5dng  with 
the  reaUty  of  Scripture,  not  in  earnest  about  it,  hardly  con- 
sistent with  our  position  as  faithful  Christians.  At  least, 
I  am  sure  I  seem  like  this — and  indeed  am,  in  my  weaker 
self — and  it  was  the  weaker  intellectual  self  that  came 
forward  last  night.  I  am  so  conscious  of  the  intense 
superiority  of  a  genuine  faith  over  the  half  disingenuous 
quibbles  of  the  understanding :  but  then,  I  feel,  from 
that  position,  it  is  no  good  coming  together  to  own  to 
difficulties  and  doubts. 

But  alas !  I  am  very  sensitive  to  difficulties :  and 
though  I  can  master  them  by  a  strong  recognition  of  the 
reaUty  of  the  spiritual  power  wielded  by  our  Lord  for 
instance,  yet  directly  I  have  withdrawn  that  personality, 
they  must  spring  up  again  :  and  I  cannot  jump  at  all 
miracles  big  and  small,  old  and  new,  because  I  am  able  to 
accept  them  in  a  particular  case  of  pecuUar  conditions. 
And  this  is  what  we  all  owned  to  more  or  less — and  1, 
especially. 

In  June,  he  was  at'  Peterborough,  with  Westcott, 
Lightfoot,  V.  H.  Stanton,  Morse  of  Nottingham,  and 
J.  B.  Paton ;  they  talked  over  plans  for  a  campaign  of 
lectures  and  essays.     He  writes  to  Talbot : — 

Paton's  scheme  of  lectures  for  the  big  towns  is  rather 
a  big  one.     It  is  to  be  run  on  the  lines  of  the  Cambridge 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  85 

Extension  Lectures.  There  are  to  be  terms  of  8  or  12 
lectures  each,  with  classes  attached,  and  papers  done. 
The  subject,  Christian  Apologetics.  All  controversy  dis- 
tinctly avoided  and  abolished.  The  lectures  to  be  for 
instruction  to  the  great  mass  of  youngish  people  who  would 
be  Christians  if  they  thought  there  was  any  possibiUty 
of  their  being  so  rationally,  and  of  its  being  conceivable 
that  the  Fortnightly  was,  after  all,  sometimes  apt  to  be 
wrong.  The  lecturers  to  be  paid :  the  lectures  open  to 
all  who  would  come  :  questioners  to  come  privately  to  the 
lecturer  after  lecture,  not  to  ask  in  public.  The  classes 
would  be  freer,  and  would  allow  for  more  general  question- 
ing. .  .  .  Paton  spoke  most  confidently  of  the  wilHngness 
of  the  towns  to  have  us,  and  to  pay  for  it.  Only  he 
stipulated  that  it  should  all  be  under  the  sanction  of 
Westcott  and  Lightfoot.  He  could  not  promise  the  co- 
operation of  Dissent,  except  to  those  two  names. 

Cambridge,  which  supplied  many  more  names  than 
I  did  for  possible  lecturers,  broke  down  rather  over  possible 
writers  :  and  here  I  came  out,  and  suggested  that  I  could 
hold  out  more  hope  of  \\Titers  than  lecturers.  An  essay 
or  so  a  year  from  three  or  four  of  us  would  surely  be  pro- 
curable. Copleston  must  do  one  before  he  goes  :  and,  I 
think,  you  would  be  good  and  kind,  and  think  about  it, 
will  you  ?  This  Long,  for  instance — a  first  vintage  about 
your  dear  friends  the  Stoics  ?  Could  not  this  be  managed  ? 
or  an  historical  study  ?  or  a  bit  of  moral  appUcation  of 
Christian  principles  to  social  problems  ?  Do  think  about 
this. 

In  August,  after  a  reading-party  at  Mortehoe,  came 
the  first  of  the  "  holy  parties,"  at  Brighstone.  This  annual 
meeting  of  friends  in  council  was  devised  by  Holland: 
and  he  gave  the  name  to  it.  The  daily  rule  was,  at  7  a.m., 
Holy  Communion,  or  meditation  :  silence  and  study  all 
the  morning :  an  afternoon  walk  :  and  a  discussion  of 
some  selected  book.* 

*  Late  in  life,  on  Francis  Paget's  death  in  191 1,  Holland  wrote  in 
Commonwealth  : — "  After  the  ecstasy  of  the  reading-party,  Paget  would 
come  on  to  the  more  sober  felicities  of  what  we  ironically  named  '  the 
holy  party.'     It  was  simply  the  habit  of  a  gang  of  us  young  donlets  to 


86  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

On  Sept.  20,  he  writes  to  Miss  Cartwright  of  an  ordination- 
service  at  Cuddeston ;  how  it  had  recalled  to  him  Fre- 
mantle's  death  : — 

What  it  all  meant,  seemed  to  be  more  than  ever  the  old 
truth,  that  our  spiritual  life  here  is  no  sundered  thing, 
but  simply  an  incoming,  an  in-flowing  of  the  brimming 
flood  of  God's  own  heavenly  life  into  the  dry  and  thirsty 
nooks  and  corners  of  this  world,  like  a  great  tide  up  river- 
creeks.  It  is  the  mighty  sea  itself,  and  not  a  shadowy 
image  of  it,  which  rolls  in  upon  us — and  therefore  it  is 
well  and  right  that  it  should  make  this  world's  death  the 
road  of  its  incoming,  the  breach  through  which  it  flows — 
just  as  the  rivers  are  drunk  up  and  disappear  under  the 
flow  of  the  floods,  and,  by  disappearing,  enjoy  the  mar- 
vellous fullness  of  the  deep  sea-waters.  Death  reveals 
this  Hfe  here  to  be  no  hfe  in  itself,  but  only  a  bed  which 
outer,  strange  streams  may  pour  into  and  fill. 

1876 

The  reading-party  was  at  Bettws-y-Coed.  After  it, 
came  the  first  of  his  many  visits  to  Hawarden.  The  holy 
party  was  at  Cross  Hayes,  Burton-on-Trent. 

To  Mrs.  Talbot 

Aug.  30,  Cross  Hayes. — Bettws  got  very  hot  at  one  time, 
but  not  hotter  than  any  place  must  be,  when  the  weather 
persists  in  being  very  hot  :  how  is  a  place  to  help  it  ?  We 
all  got  ill,  and  rushed  off  to  Llandudno,  and  put  out  our 
tongues,  and  begged  a  good  kind  doctor  to  feel  our  pulses, 
and  he,  good  man,  wrote  out  pages  of  strange  advice,  which, 
on  consulting  the  chemist's,  turned  out  to  consist  of  draughts, 
pills,  tonics,  etc.,  to  an  alarming  extent  :  on  hearing  which 
we  fled,  and  felt  much  better.  My  head  was  rather  bad, 
and  I  did  but  little  work  :  I  am  better  here. 

occupy  some  small  country  parish  for  a  month,  do  the  duty,  read,  discuss, 
say  our  offices  and  keep  our  hours  together.  Talbot,  Gore,  Ilhngworth, 
Richmond,  Arthur  Lyttelton,  J.  H.  Maude,  Robert  Moberly,  would  be 
there — with  Lock,  or  Cheyne,  now  and  again.  We  would  work,  and 
play,  and  talk  over  the  possibilities  of  an  Anglican  Oratorian  Community : 
and  be  exceedingly  happy." 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  ^7 

But  dear  Bettws  !  it  was  lovely  :  I  love  that  scenery 
more  than  any  other,  full  of  rich  colour,  and  mass  of  detail, 
purple,  red,  green,  blue — all  shaken  up  together  into  mixed 
wood,  moorland,  fern,  bog,  heather,  mountain  slopes,  rocks, 
green  fields,  ivy,  streams,  pools,  lakes,  flowers — every 
foreground  so  brilliant,  every  distance  so  full  of  scudding 
greys,  and  flying  colours,  and  broken  Hghts,  and  shimmering 
mists,  and  sudden  gleams  of  flashing  sunHght  under  heavy 
clouds — all  fairly  small,  not  astounding  you  by  size,  nor 
overwhelming  you  by  strangeness,  but  always  within 
compass,  always  deHghtful,  always  rich  in  pleasant  surprises 
and  sudden  changes — always  friendly,  and  English,  and 
quiet.  And  the  streams  !  There  are  no  such  streams 
anywhere !  That  ruddy  black-peat  water  rolling  down 
rich  like  wine — it  is  the  most  noble  form  of  water. 

I  was  so  pleased  to  go  to  Hawarden  :  they  were  very 
kind  ;  and  we  played  tennis,  and  talked,  incessantly.  The 
great  man  was  deeply  interesting  to  me  ;  it  is  quite  awful, 
feeling  oneself  near  such  a  gathered  store  of  force  :  it  is  so 
wonderful,  the  compactness  into  which  Nature  can  shut 
up  her  strength  :  it  is  strange  it  can  get  itself  into  the  same 
narrow  room  of  brain  and  nerve,  that  we  can  do  with  ;  I 
keep  expecting  it  to  go  off  pop — like  dynamite  in  a  box. 
This  sounds  irreverent,  but  it  is  what  I  feel  near  great 
men.  There  is  no  moment  when  you  feel  so  acutely  the 
inadequacy  of  space. 


To  Ms  Sister 

Aug.  31.  Cross  Hayes,  Burton  on  Trent. — I  have  done 
my  Opium  article,  and  it  has  gone  to  press,  for  the  Church 
Quarterly — I  am  anxious  for  it  to  work,  and  rouse  some  one 
to  quicken  the  Church — but  now,  my  passion  goes  out 
for  these  wretched  Bulgarians.  Never,  since  Louis  XIV 
sacked  the  Palatinate,  has  anything  hke  it  been  heard  of 
in  Europe — and  our  fleet  still  lies  at  Besika  Bay,  and  Dizzy 
is  rewarded  with  a  peerage,  after  apologising  for  these 
wickednesses,  and  lightly  scoffing  at  the  indignation  they 
have  aroused.  I  cannot  understand  where  chivalry  has 
gone,  in  the  Conservative  party — or  honour,  in  the  Army. 
They  sit  silent — or  dare  to  defend.  Thank  Goodness, 
Liddon   spoke   out.     If   only  the   Bishops   would  publicly 


88  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

speak,  open  subscriptions,  denounce.  To  think  that 
wretched,  unwarlike  Christian  peasants  can  be  slaughtered 
in  the  shambles  by  barbarous  Turks — with  Christian  Powers 
standing  round,  and  doing  nothing !  We  shall  feel  the 
vengeance  of  God  upon  us  for  this  if  we  shut  our  eyes,  and 
let  things  go  their  way. 

In  September  he  writes  from  Folkestone,  to  one  of  the 
Bettws  reading-party,  who  was  in  Italy  : — 

I  am  in  such  a  different  place  to  you,  with  a  grey  sky, 
a  grey  sea,  grey  ships,  and  grey  faces  :  but  now  and  then 
there  comes  a  breath  of  brine  from  the  ocean  which  is  worth 
most  things  in  the  world  besides.  The  people  are  an  im- 
mense improvement  on  Llandudno  :  certainly  Southerners 
can  dress,  and  certainly,  they  are  very  pretty  :  the  ladies 
are  full  of  graceful  skirts  and  racy  hats,  and  light  tied-up 
figures,  which  are  airy  and  in  motion,  and  in  and  out  among 
them  sail  dapper  little  officers  from  the  camp,  and  stately 
old  gunboats  with  whiskers  and  big  sticks,  and  all  the 
splendid  dignity  of  men-of-war — and  I  feel  glad  to  be  a 
parson  and  to  enjoy  the  privilege  of  a  right  to  be  careless 
about  the  shape  of  my  boots,  and  the  cut  of  my  bags  about 
the  knees.  You  must  be  very  happy  in  beautiful  Italy  : 
it  is  reassuring  to  see  an  Italian  throw  a  cloak  over  his 
shoulder  :  it  reminds  one,  that  civilisation  and  history  have 
not  spent  themselves  in  vain. 

In  October,  he  writes  from  Oxford,  after  some  little 
mission-service  in  London  : — 

I  did  enjoy  my  glimpse  of  rough  London  thoroughly — 
that  thrilling  sight  of  the  black  and  brutal  streets  reehng 
with  drunkards,  and  ringing  with  foul  words,  and  filthy 
with  degradation — and  the  little  sudden  blaze  of  light  and 
colour  and  warmth  in  the  crowded  shed,  with  its  music 
and  its  flowers,  and  its  intense,  earnest  faces — and  its 
sense  of  sturdy,  stirring  work,  quick  and  eager,  and  un- 
ceasing— God  ahve  in  it  all.  It  is  most  wonderful  to  me — 
the  contrast  with  our  rich  solemn  days,  our  comfortable 
Common  Rooms,  and  steady  ease,  and  Bayne,  and  the 
respectables.  It  certainly  does  one  good  to  get  touched 
up  by  a  rough  strong  bit  of  reality,  Hke  that. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  89 

1877 

In  the  spring  of  this  year,  he  had  his  first  grave  ex- 
perience of  the  ill-health  which  plagued  him,  from  time 
to  time,  for  many  years.  He  had  long  been  subject  to 
headaches,  and  had  made  the  best  of  them  :  but  in  1877 
there  was  not  only  persistent  headache,  but  complete 
disability  for  any  sort  of  continuous  work ;  and  he  found 
himself  compelled  to  be  idle.  He  had  to  take  this  trouble 
seriously  :  he  could  not  fight  it  out ;  and  recovery  was 
slow.  Happily,  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  the  trouble 
came  to  an  end  of  itself.  In  some  of  his  letters,  he  jests 
at  it.  None  the  less,  he  feared  it,  and  was  unable  to  fight 
it.  He  was  advised  to  get  away,  for  a  time,  from  Oxford  : 
and  went  to  Italy,  with  his  sister. 

To  Miss  Cartwright 

April  30.  II,  Lung  Arno  Guicciardini,  Florence. — We 
are  seeing  beautiful  things  every  day  :  and  live  with  four 
maiden  ladies,  sisters,  of  ages  between  40  and  60,  who 
are  most  delightful ;  they  talk,  and  play  and  sing,  and 
charm  us  ;  with  them  is  a  widow  cousin,  of  a  more  alarming 
character  :  and,  between  them  aU,  I  sit  night  and  day, 
and  sometimes  look  out  of  window  and  wonder  at  my 
own  sex,  and  ponder  when  I  shall  ever  speak  to  one  of 
them  again.  But  it  is  a  deHghtful  home  :  and  I  am  gradually 
getting  better,  though  it  is  slow.  Lilly  reads  to  me  histories 
of  Florence :  and  daily  we  worship  Savonarola  more 
enthusiastically  than  ever  before.  George  Eliot  has  put 
her  uncomfortable  slur  upon  him  :  he  rises  from  actual 
history  with  a  purer  and  nobler  presence,  I  think. 

From  Florence,  also,  he  writes  to  his  brother  Spencer 
at  Christ  Church,  who  was  reading  for  Greats  with  his 
tutor,  Richard  Shute  : — 

I.  I  was  glad  at  your  getting  something  out  of  Shute  ; 
he  ought  to  be  able  to  help  you  a  good  deal  with  his  sharp 


90  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

analysis  i  he  will  put  things  into  shape,  I  should  hope. 
But  don't  get  captivated  by  the  analysis  into  thinking 
that  the  whole  has  been  sifted  away  :  sifting  is  a  capital 
thing — but  the  thing  sifted  is  the  real  thing  after  all,  the 
thing  in  itself  on  which  our  wits  work  as  they  will,  but 
which  is  itself,  all  the  time,  just  what  it  is.  I  have  only 
glanced  through  Shute's  book  yet — but  it  gives  one  a  view 
of  life  which  simply  paralyses  me,  I  always  find.  It  is  so 
useless,  so  unprofitable,  so  empty,  so  utterly  and  flatly 
contradictory  to  all  my  experience,  that  all  life  power 
would  go  out  of  me,  if  I  believed  it.  I  am  not  divided 
up  into  compartments,  with  reason  in  one,  and  faith  in 
another,  each  tucked  away  by  itself  in  a  box,  out  of  which 
the  moment  it  puts  its  head  to  look  at  the  other,  Shute 
has  knocked  it  back  again  with  that  ever  watchful  and 
wary  eye.  That  is  analysis  cutting  me  up,  dividing  me  : 
but  I  don't  exist  the  least  in  a  cut-up  condition.  I  remain 
and  am  a  unity  of  person,  appearing  equally  one  and  the 
same  in  all  my  complex  manifestations,  one  and  the  same, 
whether  I  feel,  or  reason,  or  beUeve  :  and  this  unity  is  that 
by  which  I  live  :  and,  if  I  am  not  it,  but  a  series  of  boxes, 
then  I  can  only  sit  down  and  shrug  my  shoulders,  for  I 
know  not  what  I  am. 

But  this  is  enough  jaw — I  only  wanted  to  say  that 
every  formula  of  Shute's  philosophy  paralyses  my  life, 
every  formula  of  Plato's  quickens  it,  though  often  I  know 
not  why,  though  often  it  seems  illogical — and  it  is  this  which 
is  the  final  test  of  all  philosophies.  Do  they,  or  do  they  not, 
answer  to  our  life  ? 

2.  Ox^e  line  to  you — I  am  most  grateful  for  your  last 
letter  :  it  frankly  explained.  Now,  I  don't  want  to  bother 
you,  or  to  force  you  to  discuss  :  but  only  just  to  say  this — 
that  what  you  say  in  your  letter  is  exactly  the  reason  why 
I  wrote  mine — instead  of  being  a  reason  against  it. 

I  suspected  what  you  describe  :  I  felt  that  you  were 
passing  into  the  stage  of  criticism,  of  analysis — just  as 
you  say. 

But,  then,  this  makes  me  urge  you  all  the  more  strongly 
to  use  the  accepted  mode  of  contact  with  God.  For  man 
has  no  cave  of  absolute  self-concentration  into  which  he 
can  retire  in  order  to  take  a  view  from  outside  of  all  that 
is  not  himself.  He  is  for  ever  dependent,  he  cannot  sustain 
his  own]  life,  out  of  himself,  by  his  own  powers.     He  has 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  91 

to  be  sustained  by  forces  larger  than  himself — as  in  the 
body,  so  in  the  spirit. 

He  may  turn  round  to  examine  the  body — he  may 
doubt  its  very  existence,  he  may  criticise  all  its  methods, 
he  may  sift  and  analyse  ;  but,  all  the  time,  he  may  never 
cease  to  depend  on  those  methods,  he  may  never  free  him- 
self completely  from  the  body  he  analyses,  he  may  never 
hold  it  off  from  him  to  look  at,  or  refuse  its  action.  He 
must  go  on  feeding  it,  he  must  go  on  depending  on  it,  he 
must  accept  it,  or  he  will  die.  He  may  doubt  whether  it 
really  exists  ;  but  still  he  must  act  as  if  it  did  exist,  for  his 
very  power  of  doubting  is  dependent  on  the  existence  of 
that  body  whose  existence  he  doubts. 

So  it  is  with  the  Spirit. 

The  Spirit,  too,  is  dependent  on  that  which  has  brought 
it  into  being,  and  still  sustains  it.  Therefore  it  can  never 
wholly  free  itself  :  it  may  turn  round  to  criticise  itself 
and  to  analyse  the  workings  of  Spirit,  it  may  doubt  the 
existence  of  those  workings  ;  but  still  it  is  dependent  on 
those  very  workings  of  Spirit  for  its  power  to  doubt  their 
existence  ;  it  must  go  on  feeding  itself  with  the  food  pro- 
vided :  it  must  accept  the  methods  which  historically 
have  produced  it,  or  it,  too,  will  die. 

Christianity  has  made  you  what  you  are,  as  much  as 
your  mother  has.  Therefore  you  who  ask  what  is 
Christianity,  and  why  should  I  hold  it  ?  are  compelled  still 
to  Uve  by  it,  to  be  formed  by  it,  just  as  you  are  compelled 
to  acknowledge  your  mother,  while  you  doubt  the  laws  of 
marriage,  or  just  as  you  must  eat,  while  you  doubt  the 
real  existence  of  the  external  world. 

Religion  must  provide  you  with  something  that  stands 
to  you  Hke  food,  a  supreme  necessity,  whatever  you  may 
think  about  it.  This  is  what  I  meant  to  say  the  Holy 
Communion  was.  You  derive  from  it  the  very  power  to 
criticise  God.  If  you  do  not,  you  are  not  in  the  position 
of  a  questioner — ^but  you  have  already  answered  the  question. 
For  we  say  that  you  can  never  know  God  except  by  the 
help  of  God.  That  is  our  position,  as  against  the  alternative 
that  there  is  no  God.  To  reject  the  help  of  God,  therefore, 
is  already  to  make  our  answer  to  your  problem  impossible. 

As  a  questioner,  therefore,  I  should  say — the  Communion, 
i.e.  the  undoubted  historical  mode  of  seeking  God,  into 
which  you  as  a  fact  are  born,  whether  you  Uke  it  or  not, 


92  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

is  to  be  used  by  you,  as  the  only  possible  way  by  which 
one  answer  to  the  question  can  be  obtained.  The  Holy 
Communion,  i.e.  received  and  accepted  by  virtue  of  the 
supreme  necessity  of  having  faith  in  the  world  you  find 
yourself  in,  faith  in  God's  revelation  of  Himself  in  history 
— just  as  you  have  faith  enough  to  eat  bread,  though  you 
doubt  the  reality  of  external  phenomena.  Goodbye,  dear. 
God  bless  you. 

To  W.  H.  Ady 

July  26.  Pontresina. — So  much  of  the  opposition  is 
so  hollow  and  unreal,  one  knows,  as  one  gazes  blankly 
down  Daily  Telegraphs,  Pall  Malls,  etc.,  with  their  rotten 
and  insincere  appeals  to  "  beloved  principles  of  the  Re- 
formation," and  all  the  time  it  is  only  Fyffe  or  Student 
WiUiams  or  somebody  who  cares  for  the  Reformation 
about  as  much  as  for  the  Man  in  the  Moon.  I  have  been 
rather  struck  by  the  intense  popular  hatred  of  the 
"  rituaUsts,"  "  confession,"  etc.,  which  must  still  be  so 
violent  and  general,  for  the  press  to  be  confident  of  applause 
in  using  the  language  it  does.  Did  you  see  Punch  on  the 
"  Holy  Cross "  ?  I  never  read  anything  so  rabid,  and 
ferocious  ;  it  was  an  appeal  to  brutality,  to  mob-law,  to 
kicking  and  beating.  I  suppose  Punch  knows  what  sort 
of  temper  it  can  count  on  in  the  mass.  All  this  has  made 
unpopularity  feel  very  real  and  vivid ;  and  it  deepens  the 
sense  of  combat,  and  makes  one  feel  as  if  there  was  yet 
a  great  deal  of  suffering  and  rough  discipline  to  be  gone 
through.  There  won't  be  any  fair  weather  for  some  time, 
I  expect.  So  we  must  work  away  steadily  and  strictly — 
and  cut  away  all  this  reckless  light-hearted  insolence  of 
audacious  youth,  which  still  clings  about  us  :  there  ought 
to  be  so  much  less  tall  talk,  so  much  less  loud-mouthed 
defiance,  shrill  cock-a-hoop  sort  of  shouting.  It  is  a  case 
for  silent,  patient,  unshrinking  endurance,  it  seems  to  me — 
the  leaven  has  yet  got  to  work  into  the  lump,  and  that  is 
done  slowly  :  I  do  feel  that  it  will  require  a  good  deal  of 
fortitude  not  to  despair  :  and  it  is  despair,  to  draw  the 
leaven  out  of  the  lump  because  the  lump  is  so  long  in  leaven- 
ing. The  cock-a-hoop  stage  has  blinded  us  to  the  stern- 
ness, and  length,  and  grind  of  the  business  :  it  is  not  a 
thing  to  be  done  at  a  rush,  this  leavening  of  a  whole  people 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1 875-1878  93 

— this  we  are  now  learning.  The  danger  is  lest  we  should 
think  the  failure  of  the  rush  to  be  the  failure  of  the  whole 
hope — and  creep  back  to  our  own  trenches,  content  to 
keep  ourselves  safe,  and  abandoning  the  larger  victory — 
while  we  ought  to  be  just  pressing  forward  with  a  long, 
unwearied,  patient  push,  until  we  have  worn  out  the  enemy 
and  the  whole  thing  gives  way. 

Sept.  24.  London. — Rome  has  been  showing  itself 
differently  to  me  lately  from  what  you  picture  it.  I  have 
been  poking  a  Uttle  about  the  Infallibility  history :  and 
certainly  there  stands  something  in  that  long  tale  of  con- 
fusion and  blunder  and  falsification,  which  qualifies  that 
freedom  from  our  own  peculiar  griefs  which  makes  Rome 
so  refreshing  an  attraction.  I  have  felt  quite  lightened 
and  comforted  by  the  thought  that,  at  least,  I  have  no 
such  heavy  a  claim  to  make  good  as  this  one  of  Papal 
Supremacy.  It  would  require  the  most  resolute  and  defiant 
treatment,  such  as  the  methods  of  the  Archbishop  of  West- 
minster for  deahng  with  history  could  alone  supply.  In 
the  mean  time,  life  is  moving,  working,  growing  aU  about 
us,  with  aU  the  fullness  and  richness  that  we  can  expect 
here  on  earth  :  is  it  not  ? 


1878  {cet.  31) 

In  January,  he  writes  of  the  meeting,  at  Hawarden, 
of  Gladstone  and  Ruskin — "  For  three  days  I  had  the 
dehght  and  amusement  of  watching  the  two,  the  one  in 
despair  of  aU  things  here  on  earth,  attributing  this  century 
chiefly  to  the  devil,  the  other  profoundly  convinced  that 
there  never  was  such  a  good  time,  never  was  such  a  hopeful 
age.  It  was  very  funny.  Ruskin  was  most  delightfully 
fresh  and  unique ;  he  preached  his  faith  to  me  night  and 
day ;  he  trembled  on  the  edge  of  insanity  :  he  was  wonder- 
fully touching  and  beautiful.  I  got  quite  intimate  with 
him,  and  hope  to  go  on  Ustening  at  Oxford  to  his  view 
of  my  duties  as  a  clergyman.  It  is  a  great  privilege  to  have 
seen  the  two  together."  In  February,  of  the  popular 
hatred  against  Russia — "  the  debate,  with  its  angry,  loud 


94  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Ministers,  its  bitter,  unceasing  personalities  :  cheer  upon 
cheer  following  every  new  insult  to  Russia,  every  most 
flaming  suspicion  of  her  conduct,  every  palliation  of 
Turkey's  misdoings,  every  taunt  against  the  Christian 
populations.  Russia  has  lost  her  head,  I  gather :  the 
war-party  are  up  :  her  diplomats  are  making  their  own 
game,  most  suspiciously  :  all  this  is  true,  I  daresay :  but 
our  war-party  repays  them  insult  for  insult,  suspicion  for 
suspicion  ;  we  have  refused  to  accept  their  plighted  word, 
we  have  acted  in  spite  of  her  assurances  on  our  worst  sus- 
picions of  her  aims,  we  have  exhibited  jealousy  and  bitter 
criticism  at  every  turn  to  her — why  should  she  play  an  open 
game  with  us  ?  What  inducement  have  we  offered  her 
to  trust  us  ?  "  In  March,  of  the  wreck  of  the  Eurydice, 
in  which  his  cousin  Edward  Gifford  was  drowned — "  the 
only  one  who  can  be  remembered  to  have  gone  to  the 
wheel,  at  the  last  moment  when  the  water  was  rushing 
over  the  ship,  and  every  one  was  flying  as  he  could.  This 
looks  full  of  Gifford  readiness,  and  Gifford  pluck.  We 
ought  not  to  be  so  surprised,  so  overcome  by  death  :  it 
is  not  the  worst  thing  that  can  happen  to  us."  The  letter 
recalls  what  he  said  in  1872,  "  I  always  love  the  Gifford 
side  of  my  family." 

In  April,  during  a  fortnight's  reading-party  at  Porlock 
Weir,  he  writes  to  his  brother  Spencer,  on  friendship  : — 

Certainly  I  have  known  the  passionate  strain  that 
friendships  bring  with  them  :  I  have  tried,  as  so  many 
have  tried  before,  to  press  into  the  delighted  discovery  of 
sympathy  with  another  aU  the  upspringing  yearnings  that 
gather  in  the  soul  at  the  moment  when  it  first  knows  itself 
and  searches  for  another  into  whom  to  pour  this  self  know- 
ledge, in  whom  to  reahse  it,  out  of  whom  to  receive  it  back 
again  with  the  joy  of  enlargement  and  increase.  The 
spirit  is  brimming  with  good  measure  ;  and  it  longs  to  give 
itself  in  fullness,  running  over,  that  with  the  same  measure 
that  it  metes,  it  may  receive  it  back  into  its  bosom. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1875-1878  95 

And,  therefore,  I  have  known  the  inevitable  melancholy  : 
each  soul  stands  over  against  another — each  yearns  to 
unite  itself  with  each  :  but  each  has  veils  light  as  gauze, 
yet  rigid  as  steel,  which  close  each  round  to  itself  :  in  vain 
they  reach  out  embracing  arms  to  each  other,  in  vain  they 
cUng  to  each  other  ;  the  unity  cannot  attain  its  fullness, 
its  satisfaction  :  the  two  stand  apart,  confused  •  delicious 
sympathies  may  cross,  and  re-cross,  from  one  to  another, 
touching,  entwining,  binding,  but  not  dissolving  the  barriers, 
not  making  the  twain  one,  not  rending  the  partition  and 
remaking  the  two  souls  into  a  single  new  creature,  trans- 
cending the  hmits  that  sunder  them. 

We  fall  back  exhausted  :  disappointed  :  barren  :  we 
feel  as  if  friendship  broke  down  under  us,  and  we  had  no 
outlet  but  despair.  But  only  because  we  are  struggling 
to  get  out  of  friendship  what  is  not  there — more  than 
can  be  there.  There  are  two  modes  of  unity  which  are 
alive  in  us,  prompting  us  in  friendship — the  human  unity 
of  two  souls  in  marriage,  the  Divine  unity,  symboUsed  by 
this,  of  two  spirits  made  one  in  the  sacramental  union  of 
God  and  man. 

We  are  throwing  into  our  friendship  all  the  passion 
that  is  realised  in  these  two  forms.  Is  this  not  true  ?  We 
are  straining  to  make  friendship  do  the  work  of  these.  It 
is  lovely,  holy,  pure — friendship — but  it  cannot  do  the 
work. 

It  cannot  but  leave  something  undone  that  these  passions 
require  to  be  done  :  it  cannot  but  leave  something  of  un- 
satisfaction,  of  isolation,  of  imperfect  famiharity. 

The  more  we  strive,  the  more  intensely  we  drain  its  cup, 
the  more  will  be  the  fever,  the  fretfuLness,  the  angry  irrita- 
tion, the  dreariness,  of  the  inevitable  failure.  Something 
of  the  awful  barrenness  of  lust  comes  over  it,  in  that  it  is 
struggling  to  slake  the  thirst  for  the  higher  with  the  waters 
of  the  lower.  This  is  not  hard,  or  cruel :  there  is  nothing 
so  uplifting,  so  true,  so  endlessly  refreshing  as  friendship — 
nothing,  except  a  perfect  marriage,  or  a  perfect  union  with 
God.  Everything,  but  these  two,  it  will  do.  Have  I 
not  myself  hved  by  friendship  all  my  hfe  ?  Have  I  not 
fed  on  it  as  my  daily  bread  ?  Do  I  not  now  hve  in  it, 
through  it,  by  it  ?  But  whenever  I  have  attempted  to 
bring  into  it  the  vast  and  engrossing  passions  of  the  two 
higher  unions,  it  has  failed  me — it  has  turned  sour — it  has 


96  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

hovered  near  to  darkness  :  it  has  felt  the  cold  shadow  of 
death. 

...  I  do  not  want  to  force  things — only  I  beg  you 
to  drive  yourself  upward  through  all  this  uplifting  emotion 
of  love,  never  resting,  never  content,  aspiring  all  the  higher 
because  of  the  failure  of  the  lower,  reaching  onward  to 
the  highest,  learning  diUgently  through  the  discipline  of 
the  lower  the  significance  of  the  highest — learning  to  know 
what  it  is  that  you  demand  of  God,  how  real,  how  strong, 
how  Hving  the  need  of  Him  is — that  need  which  has  impelled 
you  to  enjoy  His  gifts,  and  yet  has  revealed  to  you,  by 
the  inadequacy  of  the  gifts  to  satisfy  it,  that  it  was  the 
Giver  who  alone  can  satiate — learning  it — and  reaching 
out  your  hands  to  feel  after  it,  by  cHnging  to  prayer,  how- 
ever bUnd,  by  feeling  after  Him  in  that  holy  moment  when 
He  offers  to  knit  your  soul  and  body  into  His  own  Creative 
Person ;  coming  near  to  you,  nearer  than  flesh  and  blood, 
with  the  inner  power  of  the  Spirit,  so  that  He  may  feed  you, 
nourish  you,  know  you,  interpenetrate  you,  absolve  you, 
strengthen,  quicken,  transform  you — with  that  power 
which  has  made  your  soul  once,  and  now  will  recreate  it, 
pouring  back  into  it  His  own  vigour  and  force,  and  love, 
so  that,  not  by  your  efforts,  but  by  His  power,  it  may 
grow,  and  expand,  and  increase. 

This  is  the  friend  who  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother ; 
who  can  be  more  to  us  than  father,  or  mother,  or  sister, 
or  friend. 

This  I  have  found — this  everlasting  consolation,  before 
the  face  of  which  all  doubts  dwindle  and  grow  small.  I 
do  not  want  to  force  it  upon  you  dogmatically,  or  cruelly 
— I  do  not  want  to  compel.  I  will  leave  all  to  God,  who 
will  lead  you  in  His  slow  patience,  when  and  as  He  choose. 

Only  I  could  not  help  leading  these  thoughts  up  to  that 
great  crisis  and  crown — to  it  alone  they  all  seem  to  me  to  lead. 

They  teach,  what  it  fulfils.  They  drop  their  task,  just 
where  it  can  take  it  up. 

I  do  not  mean  to  hurry  you — nor  to  watch  you  :  nor 
to  preach.  Only  I  must  be  sincere  :  I  must  say  how  all 
this  gathers  itself,  for  me,  into  that  Eucharist  of  Love. 
This  is  its  meaning  to  me — this  its  interpretation. 

During  the  holy  party,  at  Peasemore,  near  Newbury, 
he  writes  to  his  sister,  "  I  have  nearly  finished  Justin." 


CHRIST    CHURCH,  1875-1878  97 

This  was  his  long  article  on  Justin  Martyr,  in  the  Diction- 
ary of  Christian  Biography,  published  in  1882.*  There 
is  a  passage  in  it  which  might  have  been  written  of  Holland 
himself.  He  is  analysing  the  Dialogue,  where  Justin 
describes  how  he  went  first  to  a  Stoic  teacher,  then  to  a 
Peripatetic,  then  to  a  Pythagorean,  then  to  the  Platonists  ; 
and  finally  met  an  old  man  who  told  him  of  the  Jewish 
prophets  and  of  Christ  : — 

The  aim  with  which  he  started  on  his  studies  does  not 
fail  him  ;  it  is  it  which  he  achieves  in  becoming  a  Christian. 
Hence  he  is  not  thrown  into  an  antagonism  to  that  which 
he  leaves ;  his  new  faith  does  not  break  with  the  old,  so 
much  as  fulfil  it.  He  still,  therefore,  calls  himself  the 
philosopher,  still  invites  men  to  enter  his  school,  still  wears 
the  philosopher's  cloak.  From  the  first,  philosophy  has 
been  pursued  with  the  reUgious  aim  of  attaining  the  highest 
spiritual  happiness  by  communing  with  God ;  the  certified 
knowledge  of  God,  therefore,  professed  by  the  prophets, 
and  made  manifest  in  Christ,  comes  to  him  as  the  crown 
of  his  existing  aspiration. 

In  the  autumn  of  1878,  his  book  on  the  ApostoHc  Fathers 
was  pubhshed,  in  the  series  entitled  "  The  Fathers  for 
EngUsh  Readers."     A  second  edition  was  published  in  1893. 

On  Dec.  17,  in  a  letter  to  Miss  JuUa  Cartwright,  he 
says,  "  We  are  meditating  an  onslaught  on  the  S.P.C.K, 
for  its  one-sided  Political  Economy  publications — con- 
demning so  strongly  all  Trades  Unions,  and  giving  nothing 
but  the  masters'  view." 

*  Late  in  his  life,  when  the  Balliol  College  Register,  published  in  1914, 
was  in  the  press,  a  proof  was  sent  to  him  of  the  list  of  his  appointments, 
writings,  etc.  He  added  to  it  this  article  on  Justin  Martyr,  with  a  note, 
"  I  cannot  resist  mentioning  it,  as  it  is  the  only  bit  of  '  learning  '  that  I 
ever  achieved." 


H 


V 

CHRIST    CHURCH,    1879-1884 

In  the  later  years  at  Christ  Church,  he  had  more  influence 
in  the  affairs  of  the  University,  and  of  Christ  Church.  He 
was  Select  Preacher  at  Oxford  in  1879-80  :  "  the  heart 
of  the  day  for  me,"  wrote  Francis  Paget,  Nov.  9,  1879, 
"  has  been  Holland's  first  sermon  as  Select  Preacher.  I 
cannot  tell  you  what  it  was,  how  it  has  even  changed  my 
hopes  and  fears  about  Oxford,  and  deepened  my  love 
for  him.  It  seemed  to  me  easier,  because  more  planned 
and  built-up,  than  any  I  had  ever  heard  him  preach ;  he 
had  brought  aU  his  strength  under  control,  without  sacri- 
ficing anything  of  its  fulness  and  freedom  ;  and  I  think  that 
for  depth  of  thought  and  sympathy  and  true  philosophic 
power,  it  went  beyond  aU  words." 

During  Holy  Week  in  1879,  and  at  the  evening  service 
on  Easter  Sunday,  he  preached  in  St.  Paul's :  he  writes 
to  Miss  Cartwright,  May  26  : — 

It  is  a  real  help  to  get  a  word  or  two  after  a  sermon  : 
1  have  to  preach  so  much  in  the  air,  in  strange  places,  to 
strange  faces,  that  1  often  want  a  message  from  the  hearers 
or  readers  to  make  it  all  seem  real :  it  helps  me  to  gain 
confidence  that  an  actual  work  is  proceeding,  not  a  mere 
display,  but  a  heart-intercourse,  something  that  has  issues, 
and  meanings,  below  aU  the  bonnets  and  waistcoats.  It 
is  so  odd  to  speak  to  a  multitude  of  unknown  shapes,  how 
many  ?  6000,  perhaps,  they  went  nearly  down  the  whole 
nave  on  that  Easter  night  at  St.   Paul's — all  of  them  to 


CHRIST   CHURCH,  1879-1884  99 

me  ghosts,  flitting  shadows,  a  herd  of  bats,  coming,  going ; 
I  knew  none  of  them,  they  did  not  know  me  ;  what  was  my 
Hfe,  they  knew  not,  nor  I  theirs.  Perhaps  we  were  never 
to  meet  again ;  perhaps  they  wanted  something  quite 
different ;  perhaps  they  were  only  staring  up  at  aU  this 
shouting  and  noise,  wondering  what  on  earth  it  all  meant, 
or  why  anybody  should  seem  to  care  so  much  about  that 
gibberish,  which  he  was  yelling  out  so  loud.  Perhaps 
every  soul  was  hungering  for  some  meat  that  I  knew  not  of  : 
and  so  we  part ;  and  the  thing  is  done — and  no  one  that  I 
know  of  is  the  better — no  one's  Hfe  has  any  change  in  it, 
that  I  ever  hear  of.  This  is  not  a  complaint :  I  don't 
mean  to  be  peevish  or  silly :  only  it  cannot  help  being  so  : 
and  so  I  jump  at  a  real  message,  which  says,  "  Thank  you  ! 
that  is  what  I  wanted,  that  it  really  helped  me  a  Httle  bit 
to  hear."  Such  a  message  helps  me  to  believe  :  and  preach- 
ing only  wants  belief. 

In  September,  after  the  anniversary  of  Fremantle's 
death,  he  writes  to  Ady  : — 

My  memories  always  fix  on  the  morning  of  the  17th : 
it  was  then  I  heard  the  news — and  had  to  hurry  in,  in  the 
first  rush  of  grief,  into  the  matins  at  the  Bishop's  chapel — 
where  the  Psalms  caught  my  ear  through  my  tears,  first 
with  the  pathetic  touch,  which  you  may  smile  at  now  but 
which  somehow  always  chngs  to  me,  "  Free  among  the 
dead  " — (my  people  always  called  him  "  Fre  ") — and  then, 
"  My  lovers  and  friends  hast  Thou  put  away  from  me, 
and  hid  mine  acquaintance  out  of  my  sight."  The  17th 
morning  can  never  go  by  me,  in  any  one  month,  without 
my  remembering  his  dear  face  at  the  sound  of  those  Psalms. 

1880 

In  February,  he  wTites  to  Dr.  Copleston  :  they  had 
planned  to  visit  Palestine  at  Easter,  but  Dean  LiddeU  could 
not  let  him  be  late  for  the  summer  term  : — 

He  is  so  good,  and  sympathetic,  that  I  thought  it  certain 
he  would  agree,  if  the  other  officials  did  :  and  they  were 
aU  right :  I  had  talked  to  them.  But,  of  course,  the 
hideous  law  of  "  Precedent  "  came  in  !     What  was  the  Dean 


loo  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

to  say  to  any  one  who  proposed  to  be  a  fortnight  late  ?  He 
was  most  kind,  but  I  saw  how  difficult  he  felt  it  to  give  leave  : 
and  I  could  not  loyally  press  him.  More  than  that :  he 
had  himself  been  refused  by  Dean  Gaisford,  when  making 
the  same  request  !  So  he  has  at  least  the  right  to  his 
revenge. 

There  are  two  notes  (undated ;  but  written  either  in 
1880  or  in  1879)  to  J.  W.  Williams,  now  Bishop  of  Kaffraria, 
whose  rooms  were  on  Holland's  staircase,  (i)  "  If  you  like 
a  little  talk  with  a  few  friends,  over  the  connection  of  social 
poUtical  affairs  with  Christianity,  be  at  my  room  just  before 
7  o'clock  tonight."  (2)  "Pesek  today,  at  7.15,  at  65,  St. 
Giles."  The  Httle  talks  were  on  Politics,  Economics, 
Socialism,  Ethics,  and  Christianity.  He  therefore  called 
them  Pesech  ;  and  spelt  it  Pesek.  The  meeting  at  65,  St. 
Giles,  was  at  Arthur  Lyttelton's  lodgings.  Pesek  helped 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Christian  Social  Union. 

In  the  summer  of  1880,  Ady  and  Miss  Cartwright  were 
married.     He  writes  to  them,  on  their  honeymoon  abroad  : — 

You  will  drink-in  aU  wdsdom,  and  come  back  full  to  the 
brim  with  lots  of  rich  wine  stored  up  in  cask  and  bottle, 
to  drink  from  in  the  duller  years  ahead.  Lay  in  a  stock  : 
and,  in  dim,  dragging  days,  when  the  heart  flags,  you  will 
go  down  to  the  cellar  of  your  memory,  and  draw  out  some 
pet  liquor,  crusty,  and  sealed,  some  remembrance  of  a  gorgeous 
view,  or  of  a  perfect  picture,  which  you  had  seen  together — 
and  you  will  sip  of  it,  and  swig  of  its  joy,  and  cheer  each 
other  with  its  gladness  when  there  is  little  else  to  cheer. 

Another  letter,  this  year,  is  to  one  of  the  household 
at  Gayton  Lodge,  on  her  marriage  :  she  had  been  Mrs, 
Holland's  maid  for  many  years,  and  had  devoted  herself 
to  the  children  : — 

It  is  impossible  to  say  anything  of  what  one  feels  at 
moments  of  parting,  so  let  me  write  you  one  word  to  say 
how  much  you  have  been  to  me.  AU  the  years  that  I 
can  well  remember,  you  were  part  and  parcel  of  my  home  : 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  loi 

you  gave  me  just  that  which  makes  home-Ufe  so  refreshing, 
the  constant  unfailing  kindness  always  ready,  always 
gentle,  always  untired,  always  far  beyond  what  I  deserved, 
or  asked  for  :  and  you  gave  it,  as  home  gives  it,  quietly, 
without  any  loud  ofers  or  professions,  without  waiting  to 
be  asked,  without  a  word,  without  notice.  I  felt  as  if  there 
was  always  somebody  at  hand  who  would  watch  what  was 
wanted,  and  tenderly  care,  and  faithfully  help,  as  naturally 
as  a  mother  or  a  sister. 

It  is  this  kind  of  service  which  makes  a  home  so  sweet 
and  kindly  and  pleasant  and  comforting  :  and  you  have 
been  associated  with  all  this  comfort  and  all  this  kindly 
help.  Above  all,  dear  Ellen,  I  shall  never  forget  your 
incessant  and  quiet  care  when  I  was  sick  :  you  had  that 
wonderful  peaceful  way  of  going  in  and  out  of  the  room 
which  so  soothes  and  reUeves. 

It  is  a  great  wrench  :  it  breaks  up  so  much  of  our  tenderest 
memories  :  but  you  are  right  to  risk  it  at  the  call  of  an 
affection  more  full  and  satisfying  and  needful  than  any  we 
can  bring  you.  May  it  bring  you  all  you  have  the  right  to 
expect,  all  happiness  and  joy  and  love,  far,  far  more  than 
we  have  ever  been  able  to  give  you.  Goodbye,  dear  Ellen. 
God  bless  your  kind  heart  and  willing  faithfulness. 


1881 

The  holy  party  this  year  was  at  Great  Chest  erf  ord,  Essex  ; 
but  plans  went  astray  :  except  for  "  several  Uttle  arrow- 
flights  of  friends,"  he  was  alone  in  the  vicarage :  *'  and  as 
happy  as  a  grig  :  it  is  delightful ;  so  restful,  so  luxurious. 
I  suppose  now  that  people  marry  wives,  when  they  hve 
alone,  for  fear  of  being  too  happy — for  the  sake  of  discipline 
— lest  they  should  have  no  unpleasant  duties  :  otherwise, 
with  a  dog  and  a  piano,  the  bliss  would  be  too  overpowering." 
And  again,  "  You  sent  good  wishes  to  the  holy  party.  I 
have  bagged  them  aU  for  myself  :  for  indeed  the  holy  party 
is  proving  how  good  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity ;  for  I  am  one,  and  I  dwell  together  with  myself ; 
and  I  am  the  brethren.     Moberly  is  here  casually  for  three 


102  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

days  ;  and  I  hope  for  Arthur  [Lyttelton]  and  Paget.  But 
we  are  most  desultory  and  fragmentary."  He  was  in 
charge,  more  or  less,  of  two  villages  :  he  helped  in  the  church 
services,  and  in  visiting  the  poor  :  there  was  an  old  lady, 
bed-ridden ;  "  a  sweet  fragment,"  he  calls  her.  He  writes 
to  the  vicar,  Mr.  Randolph  :  "My  heart  quite  sinks,  and  I 
am  wandering  about  muttering  farewells.  How  I  shall 
tear  myself  from  Martha  I  can  hardly  say.  To  say  she  has 
been  a  Mother  to  me  is  to  say  but  little.  It  is  such  a  moral 
help  to  me  to  feel  at  all  at  home  in  the  houses  of  the  poor. 
Dear  Myrtle,  sweetest  of  dogs,  is  anxious  to  tell  you  that 
she  had  a  rare  run  after  a  hare  today,  and  lost  it  in  a  ditch." 
Later,  he  was  at  the  Church  Congress  in  Newcastle  :  and  at 
Hawarden, 

To  his  Sister 

The  Congress  was  a  distinct  success ;  and  Newcastle 
filled  me  with  admiration  :  so  vigorous,  and  fine,  and  big, 
and  inspiring.  I  dashed  down,  through  smoke  and  dirt, 
on  the  last  day,  to  Jarrow,  to  see,  in  the  heart  of  the  filth 
and  the  furnaces,  the  little  chapel  in  which  the  Venerable 
Bede  actually  prayed  :  there  it  really  is,  his  window-sUts, 
and  walls,  and  the  old  oak  chair  in  which  he  may  actually 
have  sat.  It  was  most  pathetic  :  and  Durham  !  Beyond 
all  imaginings,  superb.  I  have  felt  a  bigger  man  ever  since, 
so  exalting  is  the  mere  sight  of  it.  Whenever  you  see  a 
train  going  to  Durham,  take  it  at  once.  It  is  your  bounden 
duty. 

To  his  Mother 

Oct.  6. — Hawarden  went  very  well :  he  was  strong,  well, 
rich  with  good. talk.  I  never  heard  him  talk  better,  or  more 
freely :  and  we  had  him  all  to  ourselves.  We  cut  down  a 
tree  :  I  cHmbed  up,  and  tied  the  rope  ;  we  all  lugged  it 
down  together  in  triumph  :  he  returned,  proud  and  up- 
lifted, with  axe  on  shoulder — and  I  walked  by  his  side.  .  .  . 
Mr.  Gladstone  very  anxious  over  Transvaal,  the  first  day 
I  got  there — reUeved  by  later  news :    but  I  fear,  I  fear, 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  103 

things  may  yet  delay.  We  must  struggle  after  patience. 
Hitherto,  all  the  worst  rumours  have  vanished  as  things 
went  on. 


To  Spencer  Holland 

What  I  have  felt  so  horribly  is  the  readiness  of  the  world 
to  be  driven  by  the  sin  it  has  sinned  :  it  confesses  that 
it  has  wronged  the  Boers ;  it  regrets,  it  confesses,  but  it 
accepts  the  position  which  that  wrong  has  brought  about ; 
it  dare  not  go  back :  it  dare  not  break  with  the  very 
evil  that  it  confesses.  It  pleads  the  dreadful  difficulty 
now  that  the  thing  is  done  :  as  if  you  ever  could  do  a  wrong 
without  finding  it  dreadfully  difficult  to  undo  it.  It  consents 
to  be  driven  on  and  on,  by  that  which  it  deplores  :  as  if 
every  new  step  it  now  takes  did  not  confirm  the  evil  of  the 
first  beginning,  and  increase  the  problem  of  ever  making 
good  the  escape.  And  it  appeals  to  the  worst  possible 
arguments :  never  to  direct  duty,  but  always  to  what 
others  will  think :  the  Dutch,  the  Natives,  Europe — and 
in  comes  sneaking  the  fatal  blackguard  formula  of  "prestige" : 
when  once  I  get  there,  then  I  know  that  all  is  up  ;  that 
moral  arguments  are  weak  :  you  never  appeal  to  prestige 
until  you  have  to  pacify  your  conscience,  or  account  for 
a  crime. 

The  public  opinion  of  others  is  ground  perilous  as  a 
bog  :  it  is  the  one  thing  that  you  never  can  estimate,  or 
calculate,  or  foretell.  It  is  the  shiftiest,  and  least  respect- 
able, of  all  motives.  The  Standard  has  been  writing  articles 
that  defile  one  even  to  read  ;  they  have  been  grossly  and 
unblushingly  spurring  all  that  is  vilest  and  basest  in  our 
English  blood. 

I  own,  I  tremble  now  and  then  at  the  menaces.  I  do 
firmly  believe  that  to  bring  about  a  strong  Dutch  prepon- 
derance would  be  the  ruin  of  South  Africa  :  and  I  have  no 
means  of  knowing  how  far  this  is  really  a  possibility.  On  the 
whole,  it  seems  an  absurdly  unUkely  result :  we  are  so 
infinitely  more  ahve  than  the  Dutch  :  aU  the  movement 
is  with  us  :  and  such  movement  is  too  strong  not  to  survive 
a  troubled  hour.  Then,  I  recover  :  and  once  more  cry 
aloud,  "  Fiat  Justitia,"  let  the  sky  do  what  it  will !  Nothing 
pays  like  the  right ;  1  am  sure  of  it. 

So  be  strong,   Httle  brother — and  yet   struggle  to  be 


104  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

gentle.  It  is  very  hard  to  keep  from  violent  outcry — but 
screams  do  little,  while  kindly  persistence  does  much. 
Beforehand,  I  always  think  that  indignation  will  be  a  good 
tool  to  work  with  :  but  it  never  does  half  I  expect  of  it. 


1882 

This  year,  "  Logic  and  Life  "  was  pubUshed.  It  revealed 
the  strength  of  his  philosophy  and  religion  :  it  made  every- 
body feel  that  here  was  a  man  speaking  ^vith  authority : 
they  discovered,  with  surprise,  what  his  Oxford  friends 
had  long  ago  discovered,  that  Holland  was  far  ahead  of 
the  men  of  his  time,* 

Among  other  events  of  1882,  was  his  appointment, 
early  in  the  year,  to  be  Senior  Proctor ;  with  Mr.  A.  L. 
Smith,  now  Master  of  BalUol,  as  Junior  Proctor. 

To  Dr.  Talbot 

Might  we  walk  ?  I  am  nearly  concluding  that  I  need 
not  take  the  Proctorship  :  and  I  want  to  know  if  this 
is  right,  or  wrong.  My  point  is  (i)  Another  would  take 
it,  who  is  infinitely  better  for  it  in  every  way  :  and  would 
be  helped  by  it,  and  would  be  glad  of  it.  (2)  It  is  not  my 
line  :  and  I  am  so  terribly  handicapped  now,  from  doing 
even  decently  what  I  could  do  and  ought  to  do,  by  a  state 
of  health  which  I  can  just  keep  balanced  by  never  pressing 

*  There  is  a  letter  to  him,  in  March  1881,  from  John  Wordsworth,  after- 
ward Bishop  of  Sahsbury :  the  reference  is  to  Wordsworth's  Bampton 
Lectures,  The  One  Religion  :  the  letter  shows  what  Holland's  Oxford  friends 
thought  of  him :  "  Perhaps  I  can  popularise  something  of  the  more  super- 
ficial aspects  of  the  matter,  and  make  way  for  you  to  come  in  with  the 
real  philosophy  of  it.  I  am  quite  serious  over  this.  You  have  a  gift 
such  as  no  one  else  here  has,  and  particularly  for  touching  a  certain  class 
of  minds  :  I  want  you  to  husband  your  powers  and  prune  your  luxuriance  for 
a  great  effort  to  win  some  of  them.  If  that  could  be  done,  we  might  die 
more  happily.  I  know,  for  my  own  part,  that  I  can  do  nothing  for  them, 
except  indirectly  by  shewing  that  I  beheve  what  I  am  saying.  Please 
think  calmly  of  this,  and  prepare  the  ground,  if  not  for  next  year,  yet 
for  the  year  after." 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  105 

myself,  but  which  still  makes  all  hard  work  impossible, 
so  that  I  can  only  just  scrape  through  the  most  necessary 
reading  by  a  squeeze ;  and  this  being  so,  I  cannot  afford 
the  loss  of  a  whole  year. 

I  really  do  not  think  that  public  grounds  lequire  me. 
The  only  thing  that  calls  me  to  it  is  a  certain  need  of  self- 
discipUne — of  training  in  management  of  men  and  "  affairs  " 
— but  I  shall  never  make  much  of  this  anyhow  :  and  I 
wonder  whether  it  is  worth  while  ruining  my  better  side 
for  the  sake  of  slightly  improving  my  worst. 

On  Whit-Sunday,  he  preached  in  Cathedral  to  the 
members    of    the    Co-operative    Congress.*    The    sermon 

*  He  took  for  his  text,  No  man  can  serve  two  masters.  "  In  all  moral 
action,"  he  told  the  Congress,  "  man  is  wholly  single.  He  cannot  in  that 
single  self,  which  is  the  root  and  base  of  all  will  and  all  affection,  in  that 
unique  and  organic  self,  whence  arises  all  the  force  that  makes  his  intention, 
and  quickens  his  impulsive  activities,  and  prompts  his  imagination,  and 
braces  his  desires — he  cannot  there  suffer  division.  His  hfe  is  no  fixed 
and  dehberate  arrangement  which  he  can  separate  into  distinct  portions ; 
no  house  with  severed  chambers  each  narrowed,  and  known,  and  apart, 
in  and  out  of  which  he  can  pass  at  definite  moments,  and  can  vary  as  he 
goes  his  thoughts  and  his  intentions  according  to  the  change  in  his  position. 
.  .  .  He  cannot  divide  himself  in  half.  He  acts  wholly  in  each  action  of 
body  and  of  spirit,  and  so  acting,  his  whole  being  is  touched  and  affected 
by  the  character  of  the  motive  which  determines  the  action."  This  law, 
he  told  them,  that  a  man  cannot  cut  himself  in  half,  and  be  one  thing 
toward  the  affairs  of  earth  and  another  toward  the  affairs  of  heaven, 
was  laid  down  from  above  by  Christ,  for  the  new  citizenship  of  Christian 
society.  "  This  same  law  you,  as  I  understand  you,  have  discovered  and 
apprehended  from  below,  by  the  hght  of  wide  and  careful  observations, 
through  the  pressure  of  a  large  and  intricate  experience.  You  have  found 
and  known  that  man  is  single  throughout — that  he  cannot  wholly  detach 
any  one  part  of  himself  from  any  other ;  any  one  region  of  his  activity 
from  any  other." 

Thus,  he  told  them,  they  were  up  against  the  old  hard  economical 
teaching,  which  "  would  deal  only  with  the  positive,  the  practical,  the 
partial,  the  limited.  It  would  take  man  in  his  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  in 
that  only.  It  would  limit  itself  to  a  study  of  but  one  motive — the  motive 
of  personal  advancement."  He  exposed  the  fallacies  of  this  teaching : 
the  impossibility  of  isolating  any  part  of  a  man :  the  impossibiUty  of  isolating 
any  individual  man  from  his  fellows :  the  impossibiUty  of  isolating  any 
one  domain  of  human  action.  "  You  are  here  today  to  say,  to  declare, 
that  in  his  trade  man  finds  himself  a  brother  among  brethren —  no  competing 
foe,  but  one  of  a  family ;  knit  up  by  closest  ties  of  fellowship,  into  an 
organic  society  of  helpful  co-operators.     And  I,  surely,  am  here  to  say. 


io6  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

was  published,  and  he  sent  a  copy  to  Mr.  Ruskin ;  who 
wrote  back : — 

Annecy,  Savoie.  14th  Nov.  '82. — ^I  am  most  grateful  for 
the  sermon,  and  most  glad  it  was  spoken  and  printed  : 
but  may  I  say  that  it  touches  me  with  some  sorrowful 
wonder  that  you  refer  to  me  as  if  my  witness  to  its  truth 
were  of  any  real  import  or  value  to  you.  Surely,  a  clergy- 
man of  your  sincerity  and  feeling  has  the  witness  in  himself  ? 
And  as  the  matter  actually  stands,  I  am  far  more  in  need 
of  confirmation  in  the  spiritual  truths  I  have  tried  to  feel 
and  teach,  by  the  good  churchmen  of  the  Catholic  church, 
than  the  simplest  of  them  can  be,  of  any  strengthening 
of  their  hands  by  my  weary  ones. 

Ahhey  of  Vallorbes.  22nd  Nov.  '82. — Indeed  I  am  grate- 
ful for  your  account  of  all  that  was  felt,  and  done  at  Oxford, 
for  those  delegates,  and  very  heartily  wish  I  had  been 
there  to  have  some  part  and  lot  in  this  matter.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  important  signs,  and  facts,  of  this  time,  and 
altogether  lovely  to  me,  which  not  many  modern  signs 
are.  I  have  never  got  a  clear  idea  of  the  Rochdale  principle 
of  co-operation — but  at  the  core  of  it  must  be  the  under- 
standing that  the  tradesmen  and  customers  are  not  two 
separate  and  hostile  classes  :  and  if  indeed  it  ends,  in  that 
perception,  the  sin  which  "  sticks  close  between  buying 
and  selling,"  the  cathedrals  of  England  may  well  be  open 
for  its  services  of  thanksgiving.  Very  thankful  am  I  that 
our  own  cathedral  and  hall  have  given  the  example. 

Your  kind  words  to  myself  come  helpfully  to  me,  at 
a  time  when  I  do  not  know  if  I  am  right  in  thinking  of 
the  completion  of  work  interrupted  by  humiliating  failure 
of  mind  and  body,  yet  which  it  seems  to  me  my  proper 
task  to  complete,  if  I  may.     Ever  affectionately  yours. 

In  June,  in  the  Christ  Church  controversy  over  certain 
statements,  by  one  of  the  Senior  Students,  concerning  the 

to  declare,  that  revelation  meets  you  with  a  like  announcement.  .  .  . 
Christ  the  true  son  of  God  has  taken  to  Himself  our  flesh  for  this  very 
purpose,  that  in  His  flesh,  God-possessed,  God-transfigured,  God-fulfilled, 
He  should  break  down  all  walls  of  fleshly  partition,  all  divisions  of  blood, 
all  severance  of  race  or  class  or  kind,  and  should  raise  the  brotherhood  of 
man  into  solid  and  actual  reality." 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  107 

doctrine  of  the  Resurrection,  he  was  opposed  not  only  to 
Liddon  but,  which  was  even  more  difficult  for  him,  to 
Pusey : — 

To  Dr.  Talbot 

It  was  indeed  a  strain  unlooked-for,  to  see  the  old 
Doctor  there,  drav/n  from  his  gathering  death  to  speak, 
with  his  last  activity,  to  open  out  his  life-secrets,  to  appeal 
to  us  by  the  name  of  his  long  service  of  God.  It  cost  me 
much.  But  I  could  not  waver,  in  myself.  I  had  spoken 
before  he  did :  so  that  I  stood  pledged  already.  Nor 
can  I  bring  myself  at  all  to  repent  what  I  did.  I  have  felt 
much  more  sure  since  I  did  it,  than  ever  I  did  before.  I 
am  sure  that  I  feel  surer  and  truer,  in  meeting  Liddon 
since  it,  than  I  could  ever  have  felt  in  meeting  Nettleship 
if  I  had  voted  the  other  way. 

In  August,  he  and  Dr.  Talbot  were  in  Ireland,  for  Dr. 
Copleston's  wedding  :  "  three  days  with  a  Roman  resident 
landlord  on  the  wild  edges  of  Galway  Bay,  two  days  in 
Wicklow  the  beautiful  with  the  Archbishop  of  Dubhn, 
and  two  days  ringed  with  soldiers,  police,  and  detectives, 
in  the  Vice-Regal  Lodge."  The  murder  of  Lord  Frederick 
Cavendish  and  Mr.  Burke  was  on  May  6. 

To  his  Mother 

Aug.  18.  Vice-Regal  Lodge,  Dublin. — Here  we  are ; 
and  for  the  first  time  I  reahse  the  serious  terror  of  the 
situation.  Before  this,  everything  looked  so  bright,  and 
easy-going,  and  usual,  that  it  was  impossible  to  beheve 
that  the  volcano  was  under  our  feet :  but  now  sentries 
haunt  every  corner  :  peelers  start  up  out  of  every  bush  ; 
detectives  prowl  and  prowl  around.  The  garden  walks 
are  fuU  of  watchers :  and,  just  this  moment,  even  for 
Talbot  and  myself  to  go  two  hundred  yards  outside  the 
gates,  two  detectives  are  told  off  to  guard.  Of  course,  there 
is  not  the  shghtest  danger  for  us  :  it  is  merely  formal : 
but  it  shows  what  surrounds  Ld.  Spencer  himself.  That 
walk  of  200  yards  carried  us  to  the  spot  of  the  double  murder. 


io8  HENRY  SCOTT   HOLLAND 

It  is  directly  in  front  of  the  garden  lawn  :  the  road  of  the 
park  crosses  in  face  of  the  house.  Such  a  lovely  view  it 
is,  over  a  charmingly  broken  park,  full  of  woodland  stretches 
and  thorns,  and  over  all  the  splendid  Wicklow  mountains  : 
a  quiet,  delicious  view,  with  that  dark  blot  to  stain  it  for 
ever.  One  is  caught  in  a  sort  of  stupifying  wonder  at  what 
it  all  means — so  fair  and  so  deadly. 

Toward  the  end  of  1882,  he  was  appointed  to  be  one 
of  the  Censors  of  Christ  Church  :  and  moved  from  Tom 
Quad  to  Peckwater,  number  3  on  staircase  9. 


1883 

Early  in  1883,  Dr.  "Wilkinson  became  Bishop  of  Truro  : 
and  Holland  was  appointed  to  be  his  examining  chaplain, 
and  an  Honorary  Canon  of  Truro  Cathedral. 

By  April,  he  was  free  from  his  "  proctorial  horror." 
The  mere  proctorising  of  stray  undergraduates  had  been 
a  very  small  part  of  his  duties.  He  had  been  ex  officio 
a  member  of  innumerable  committees  :  and  the  University 
had  required  his  presence  at  all  its  ceremonies,  and  his 
attention  to  its  financial  and  administrative  affairs.  In 
his  dealings  with  undergraduates,  he  had  been  tolerant 
of  small  offences,  unable  to  be  solemn  over  them,  but 
heart  and  soul  against  grave  offences  :  and  it  is  said  that 
by  the  time  when  he  and  his  colleague  had  been  three 
months  in  office,  no  women  of  bad  character  were  to  be 
seen  about  the  streets  of  Oxford.  There  is  a  letter  to 
him  from  his  colleague,  April  12,  1883  : — 

You  must  be  indifferent  or,  so  to  say,  callous  to  praise 
by  this  time.  But  it  will  be  many  a  long  year,  and  many  a 
pair  of  Proctors  to  rise  and  set,  before  any  one  will  be  so 
fortunate  in  a  colleague  as  I  was.  It  was  at  once  a  support 
and  a  dehght  to  me.  This  time  last  year,  I  had  only  just 
ceased  to  be  in  terror  that  you  would  not  take  the  office ; 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  109 

but  I  should  be  desperate  with  anxiety  if  (with  what  I  know 
now)  I  knew  that  you  were  hesitating.  I  feel  that  one  has 
learned  much  ;  but  I  feel  rather  bitterly  how  much  more 
one  might  have  done,  but  for  being  crushed  with  other 
work  ;  how  many  things  one  had  to  do  slovenly  or  by  halves. 
But  one  thing  I  had  time  to  complete  was  my  belief  in  you  : 
and  some  day  when  you  are  famous  beyond  your  present 
fame,  I  shall  boast  to  perhaps  incredulous  liriyovoi  of 
our  year's  association. 

In  November,  Dr.  R.  F.  Horton,  Fellow  of  New  College, 
was  proposed  for  an  examinership  in  divinity :  and  the 
question  arose,  whether  these  examinerships  were  open  to 
Nonconformists.  Holland  found  it  difficult  to  make  up 
his  mind.  "It  is  so  curiously  perverse,"  he  writes  to 
Dr.  Talbot,  "  when  so  strangely  little  is  gained  to  Non- 
conformity by  it.  A  common  Christianity  won  by  common 
examining  in  the  articles  is  the  most  unreal  bond  I  have 
yet  heard  of.  I  am  wondering  how  far  it  is  true  that  it 
is  an  affair  of  principle.  Obviously,  it  is  an  appointment 
which  Lock  would  rightly  oppose  with  all  powers  of  protest 
as  a  nominator.  But  I  should  not  like  to  press  the  principle 
that  the  examiners  were  delegates  of  the  Church,  or  her 
representatives  in  any  shape.  They  are  the  University 
pure  and  simple,  requiring  knowledge  of  the  articles  of  a 
particular  Church ;  not  that  particular  Church  herself, 
dealing  with  her  own  formulae.  .  .  .  That  leaves  me  asking, 
Is  it  a  matter  for  Horton's  conscience,  or  for  mine  ? 
Apart  from  wounding  us,  he  is  in  his  rights  :  and  so  is  the 
University,  I  suppose.  Does  this  affect  the  question  of 
our  accepting  his  nomination  ?  I  don't  quite  see  yet, 
how  far  it  does."  He  was  content  that  Congregation 
should  decide  in  favour  of  Dr.  Horton.  Then  a  meeting 
of  Convocation  was  demanded  :  it  reversed  the  decision. 
He  writes  again,  half  angry,  half  amused  :  "  You  certainly 
were  not  wanted  to  swell  the  immense  volume  of  clerical 


no  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

indignation.  I  could  not  vote.  It  seemed  to  me  impossible, 
after  so  eagerly  dissuading  and  disapproving  the  fight. 
So  1  took  a  walk  in  the  country  instead,  and  missed  the 
wonderful  scene.  Surely  this  terrific  conquest  justifies 
us  in  what  we  wanted.  It  is  a  ridiculous  force  to  have 
turned  on  for  so  small  an  occasion.  It  gives  the  effect 
of  '  Anything  to  keep  out  a  Nonconformist.'  It  has  made 
the  whole  affair  a  battle."  And  to  another  friend :  "  We 
struggled  to  keep  the  matter  down  to  the  level  of  a  protest 
to  the  Board  of  Nomination.  But  the  ferocity  of  the 
fighters  overbore  our  best  efforts.  So  after  all  neither 
the  Warden  nor  I  voted  at  all.  I  could  not  vote  against 
Horton  after  having  so  strongly  resisted  the  policy  of 
universal  scream." 


1884 

To  Dr.  Talbot 

Jan.  20. — I  feel  a  little  guilty  about  what  I  said  of 
leaving  or  not  leaving  Oxford,  I  am,  in  reaUty,  perfectly 
happy  with  Oxford  :  and  much  desire  to  stop  here.  It 
is  only  that  I  do  sigh  a  bit  at  my  Censor's  work  :  simply 
because  I  long  to  read  and  think.  If  I  had  a  chance  of 
doing  this,  I  should  be  absolutely  content.  I  daresay 
this  is  selfish.  It  is  good  for  one  to  go  through  discipHne  : 
and,  then,  I  cannot  conceive  what  they  could  arrange  here 
at  this  moment,  if  I  retired.  So  probably  it  is  both 
necessary  and  best,  for  a  bit.  And  if  I  had  more  time, 
I  should  perhaps  do  nothing.  It  is  the  bhnd  and  fooUsh 
heart  that  longs  for  leisure  :  that  is  all.  So  please  don't 
think  I  want  to  be  moved  away. 

Feb.  19.  {A  birthday  letter.) — Forty  !  It  is  wonderful ! 
Forty  thieves  have  stolen  what  they  could  from  you  :  but 
you  have  gained  from  somewhere  unearthly  forty  times 
more  than  ever  they  have  stolen — yes,  and  forty  times 
forty.  So  may  the  great  blessings  grow  in  and  about  you  ; 
and  all  my  heart's  love  be  warm  amid  all  the  other  affections 
that  swarm  in  and  out  of  your  soul  today  from  many  lovers. 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  iii 

Then — about  Ld.  Acton.  I  have  a  meeting  at  Worcester 
at  7.30,  that  is  the  dreadful  fact.  I  cannot  well  cut :  it 
is  temperance.  I  am  so  sorry.  Won't  they  come  to  tea  ? 
I  wish  I  could  have  had  a  httle  meal  for  them.  P.S, — A  httle 
letter  from  Mr.  W.  E,  G.  came  this  morning,  and  with 
proposals.     Don't  say  anything. 

Mr.  Gladstone  offered  him  the  Canonry  of  St.  Paul's 
which  had  become  vacant  by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Stubbs 
to  be  Bishop  of  Chester. 

From  Dr.  Liddon 

Feb.  19. — My  very  dear  Holland,  Thank  you  indeed  for 
all  the  confidence  and  love  of  your  note.  You  must  cer- 
tainly say  "  Yes  "  to  the  Prime  Minister.  You  have  had 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  his  offer,  and  therefore  you 
must  recognise  in  it  the  Providence  and  WiU  of  God.  Unless 
there  was  a  decided  reason  for  saying  No,  it  is  a  duty  to 
say  Yes. 

We  shall  all  of  us  receive  you  with  open  arms,  especially 
the  Dean  and  I  who  know  you  best.  And  I  shall  feel 
that  by  your  presence  we  are  greatly  strengthened  in  our 
work,  and  I  thank  God  for  this.  He  has  given  you,  my 
dear  Holland,  some  very  rare  powers  of  serving  Him  ;  and 
you  will,  I  feel  sure,  if  He  spares  your  Hfe,  be  able  to  do 
much  which  few  others  can  do.  Especially  glad  am  I 
of  this  reinforcement  to  our  preaching  power,  which  we 
much  need. 

In  so  small  a  body,  every  member  counts  for  a  great 
deal ;  and  the  anxiety  of  a  vacancy  is  very  great.  It  has 
weighed  on  me  Uke  a  nightmare  during  the  last  few  weeks, 
— ever  since  I  knew  that  Stubbs  would  leave  us.  We  have 
projects  in  view  of  which  I  will  talk  to  you,  and  I  feel  that 
they  will  be  perfectly  safe,  now  that  you  are  to  be  with 
us,  Deo  gratias. 

It  will  be  sad  for  Christ  Church  :  but  a  parting  was  sure 
to  come,  sooner  or  later,  and  it  is  better  sooner  than  later. 
For  you  had  drifted  into  entanglements  which  were  full 
of  difficulty  and  in  which  it  was  possible  that  you  might 
be  forced  further  than  you  would  wish.  .  .  .  Now  comes 
a  solution,  as  far  as  you  are  concerned  :    and  it  is  a  relief 


112  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

to  me  that  you  will  not  have  to  make  a  painful  decision 
again. 

As  to  the  wider  question,  I  have  feared  sometimes 
that  the  younger  Churchmanship  of  Oxford  was  under- 
going a  silent  but  very  serious  change — through  its  eager- 
ness to  meet  modern  difficulties  and  its  facile  adoption 
of  new  intellectual  methods,  without  fully  considering 
all  the  uses  to  which  they  might  be  put  by  others.  I  do 
not  forget  that  as  we  grow  older  our  minds  stiffen,  and 
we  get  to  dislike  what  is  new,  for  no  better  reason  than  its 
novelty.  In  this  respect  I  am  likely  to  be  as  bad  as  others  : 
but,  allowing  for  this  tendency  in  myself,  and  tr5dng  to 
look  at  the  matter  dispassionately,  I  still  do  think  that 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  new  and  the  old  Church- 
manship. The  new  cares  less  for  authority,  and  relies 
more  on  subjective  considerations,  and  expects  more  from 
fallen  humanity,  and  attaches  less  importance  to  the 
Divine  organisation  and  function  of  the  Church,  than  did 
the  old.  We  live  here,  on  terms  of  easy  intercourse  with 
so  many  to  whom  Catholic  Doctrine,  and  indeed  the  whole 
Creed  of  Christianity  go  for  nothing,  that  this  new  estimate 
may  well  have  grown  up  without  being  noticed.  But 
to  yield  to  such  influences  means  sooner  or  later  some 
essentially  Pantheistic  substitute  for  the  Ancient  Faith. 

However,  not  to  go  into  great  questions,  you  will  feel 
this  difficulty  less  in  London,  There  the  issues  are  much 
simpler  than  in  Oxford.  May  we  have  a  talk  after  Hall, 
or  whenever  you  have  said  Yes  to  the  Prime  Minister, 
and  posted  the  letter  ?    Your  always  affect. 


To  Mr.  Gladstone 

Feb.  19. — Dear  Mr.  Gladstone,  Let  me  thank  you  most 
humbly  and  most  seriously  for  the  proposal  made  to  me, 
under  Her  Majesty's  kindly  sanction,  to  succeed  Dr.  Stubbs, 
at  St.  Paul's. 

I  cannot  but  accept  your  judgment  in  this  matter,  as 
one  that  is  to  me  authoritative.  I  fear,  lest  I  grievously 
should  disappoint  your  expectation  of  the  services  that 
I  can  render. 

But,  of  all  human  motives  that  will  influence  me  in 
after-life,  not  one  will  stand  higher  than  my  eager  and 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  1879-1884  113 

industrious  desire  to  fulfil  what  you  may  wish  in  proposing 
this  appointment,  and  to  justify  your  trust  in  me. 

I  shall  keep  near  me  your  kind  and  fortifying  words, 
and  pray  to  God  that  I  may,  at  least,  do  what  in  me  lies, 
to  make  them  good. 

With  earnest  thanks  for  all  the  help  that  an  act  of  trust 
from  one  like  yourself  brings  with  it,  BeUeve  me  your's 
faithfuUy. 


To  Mrs.  T.  H.  Green 

He  would  have  been  very  glad  of  this,  I  think.  It 
will,  I  trust,  take  me  nearer  to  work  that  he  would  hold 
dear,  among  the  working-men  of  that  great  city.  I  pray 
to  God  that  I  may  always  carry  to  such  work  the  hope  and 
the  spirit  that  I  learned  from  him.  It  was  such  a  delight 
to  me,  at  our  Fellowship  examination  last  term,  to  see, 
from  the  papers  sent  in,  the  profound  effect  of  the  Pro- 
legomena of  Ethics  upon  almost  all  the  men.  They  had 
got  hold  of  it  in  a  way  that  was  vital,  and  enduring.  It 
was  no  chance  influence,  but  a  teaching  which  had  possessed 
them  with  a  thoroughness  which  seemed  ineradicable. 
Materiahsm  appeared  to  have  been  absolutely  displaced 
out  of  the  field.  I  am  sure  you  will  rejoice  to  hear  of  this  : 
and,  perhaps,  I  may  add  that  the  book  seemed  to  those  of 
us  who  already  loved  your  husband,  to  be  deeper  and 
stronger,  and  more  entirely  satisfying  than  any  work  of 
his  had  seemed  before.  It  can  never  cease  out  of  our 
lives. 

Among  those  who  congratulated  him,  "  It  wiU  give  me 
the  greatest  delight,"  Dean  Church  wrote,  "  to  welcome 
you  to  a  stall  which  is  a  very  illustrious  one  from  the  names 
of  its  last  holders,  Stubbs  and  Lightfoot.  You  will  bring 
us  a  great  accession  of  strength,  and  just,  I  think,  in  the 
way  in  which  we  want  it."  And  Bishop  Wilkinson,  "  It 
is  the  work  which  I  desire  for  you — full  of  great  tempta- 
tions— to  you  perhaps  of  special  temptations — but  a  work 
prepared,  I  humbly  believe,  for  you  by  God."  And  Lord 
Reay,   "  I  daresay  j^ou  have  by  this  time  exhausted  the 

I 


114  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

congratulations  of  Anglicans,  so  I  venture  to  offer  you  the 
very  sincere  ones  of  a  Scotch  Presbyterian,  who  will  give 
you  frequent  chances  of  converting  him  to  a  more  apostolic 
and  imaginative  creed  by  sitting  at  your  feet  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral." 

The  members  of  his  lecture,  and  other  Christ  Church 
undergraduates,  presented  to  him  a  congratulatory  address, 
and  a  gift  of  money  to  buy  books.  In  July,  he  writes  to 
Dr.  Copleston  in  India  : — 

It  is  a  noble  place  to  work  in,  and  for  :  so  strong  and 
rich :  so  close  to  the  heart  of  England's  Ufe :  so  large 
and  encompassing  :  so  beautiful  too,  with  its  perfect  music 
and  its  flawless  Dean.  I  have  only  been  one  month  yet 
in  residence  :  but  it  was  enough  to  make  me  feel  it  become 
a  house  of  worship,  as  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  sorts  of 
stray  and  wandering  people,  who  find  its  doors  open  always, 
and  its  spaces  wide  enough  to  hide  them,  and  its  invitation 
to  be  without  question  or  suspicion.  I  look  forward  greatly  : 
there  is  no  place  in  which  I  would  rather  spend  my  days, 
and  do  my  work. 

I  hope  to  keep  two  whole  terms  in  Oxford  :  there,  there 
are  many  threads,  and  King,  and  the  Warden,  to  cling 
to  :  and  so  much  hope,  and  force,  and  good-cheer  :  and 
then  the  "  Puseum,"  and  Gore  :  these  must  be  backed 
with  all  our  powers.  Year  by  year,  the  Church  hold  grows 
firmer  in  Oxford,  and  its  range  is  larger,  and  its  action  more 
brave.     Aubrey  Moore  is  becoming  a  great  help. 


VI 

home  life 
By  Spencer  L.  Holland 

In  his  boyhood,  the  difference  in  age  of  eight  years  made 
a  gap  too  large  for  companionship.  I  do  not  recollect 
that  Scott  devoted  himself  in  any  way  to  my  contemporary 
sister  and  myself  as  he  did  so  fascinatingly  in  later  years 
to  children.  I  can  only  recall  seeing  the  smart  little  figure 
going  off  to  Eton  after  his  holidays,  generally  late  in  the 
evening,  and  very  cheerful.  Once  we  two  younger  ones 
were  taken  to  see  him  at  Eton  ;  and  were  puzzled  by  his 
abrupt  disappearance  into  a  shop  in  the  High  Street,  due 
to  the  vision  of  a  master,  and  to  the  fiction  that  High 
Street  was  out  of  bounds,  though  the  river  was  in  bounds. 
He  also  pointed  out  to  us  the  Prince  Consort  riding  down 
Windsor  hill. 

Though  called  "  Scotty  "  by  his  mother,  to  us  he  was 
generally  Scott  or  "  Scotus,"  till  we  adopted  him  as  "  the 
Canon."  Miss  Gifford  used  to  call  him  "  my  dear  M.  A.," 
after  he  took  that  degree  :  and  he  used  to  call  her  "  my 
dear  B.  A.  "  (Beloved  Aunt).  He  had  the  Gifford  liking 
for  nicknames. 

Gayton  Lodge,  Wimbledon  Common,  which  was  our 
home  from  1861  to  igo8,  was  an  Italianised  Victorian 
villa  :  Scott  always  laughed  at  its  architectural  appearance, 
and  imagined  it  transported  to  the  shore  of  an  Italian  lake. 

115 


ii6  HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND 

It  had  a  tower,  with  a  dragon  for  a  weather-vane,  and  a 
good  view  over  the  Common.  The  drawing-room  was  a 
pleasant  big  room,  running  the  whole  width  of  the  house, 
and  opening  into  the  conservatory,  a  constant  summer 
sitting-place.  The  garden-beds  were  planted  out  each 
year  with  geraniums  and  calceolaria :  and  beyond  the 
garden  was  "  the  wilderness  " — some  good  firs  and  beeches 
and  oaks — and  a  croquet-lawn,  and  a  swing  on  which  Scott 
went  prodigious  heights.  But  the  house  as  a  whole  was 
not  noteworthy ;  and  was  bitterly  cold  in  winter.  "  The 
children  "  were  in  a  wing  to  themselves  :  and,  oddly  enough, 
there  was  no  room  specially  associated  with  Scott.  At 
first,  he  shared  a  room  with  his  two  brothers  :  later,  he  had 
a  spare  room,  but  his  books  and  belongings  were  at  Christ 
Church,  or  at  Amen  Court.  He  always  looked  back  to 
Wellesbourne  Hall  as  his  boyhood's  favourite  home.  Gayton 
was  merely  his  holiday  home,  or  his  "  visiting  home."  Still, 
he  was  very  fond  of  the  garden ;  and  dehghted  in  the 
Common. 

As  a  slim  figure  in  a  grey  suit,  with  a  straight-cut  jacket 
buttoned  across,  as  in  Balliol  days,  he  comes  more  clearly 
into  my  perspective.  There  would  be  family  walks, 
all  together  then,  of  brothers  and  sisters,  over  Wimbledon 
Common  and  to  Csesar's  Camp  and  "  Jacob's  Well "  ; 
picnics  with  friends  in  Richmond  Park  ;  great  days  on  the 
Surrey  hills,  tramping  from  Dorking  to  Guildford  or  there- 
abouts ;  with  Scott  prancing  ahead,  waving  his  stick 
enthusiastically  at  each  point  of  view  ;  and  generally  ending 
with  a  wild  rush  to  catch  a  train  home.  Once  he  and  two 
brothers,  with  some  friends,  rushed  madly  about  at  what 
were  supposed  to  be  great  Army  manoeuvres  in  the  Aldershot 
neighbourhood :  General  Manteufiel  and  his  staff  were 
there,  fresh  from  the  1870-71  War  :  we  saw  him  sitting 
grimly   on  his   horse,    quite   still,   probably   contemptuous 


HOME  LIFE  117 

of  the  whole  show :  I  know  that  we  dashed  from  one 
army  to  the  other  at  great  risk  under  Scott's  guidance. 
He  and  his  elder  sister  often  rode  together :  his  original 
"  hunting  mount  "  at  Wellesbourne,  a  strange  yellow 
pony,  called  Inky  after  the  battle  of  Inkerman,  was 
still  browsing  in  the  Gayton  field,  and  was  occasionally 
used.  Cricket  was  improvised  on  Putney  Heath,  with 
John  Murray  and  others.  He  would  play  a  rapid  dash- 
ing style  of  croquet  :  later,  he  played  lawn-tennis  with 
much  activity  and  shouting,  but  was  inclined  to  hit  too 
hard :  and  it  was  the  security  of  racquet  courts  that 
made  him  so  good  at  racquets  at  Oxford.  Skating,  above 
all,  delighted  him :  and  his  performances  in  hard 
winters  on  Wimbledon  Park  lake,  though  not  strictly 
professional,  were  admirable.  For  indoor  games  he  never 
cared. 

He  had  round  him  a  notable  group  of  friends  :  the 
John  Murrays  at  Newstead,  the  Bartle  Freres  at  Wressil 
Lodge,  and  the  Goldschmidts  at  Oak  Lea.  He  grew  up 
to  enjoy  the  kindly  friendship  of  the  elder  John  Murray, 
Sir  Bartle  Frere,  and  Mr.  Otto  Goldschmidt,  and  the  genuine 
affection  of  Madame  Goldschmidt  (Jenny  Lind)  and  of  her 
daughter  Jenny  (Mrs.  Raymond  Maude).  Madame  Gold- 
schmidt was  at  her  best  with  her  "  dear  Mr.  Scott  "  :  she 
threw  off  all  stiffness  with  him,  and  the  two  would  shout 
with  laughter  in  their  gay  companionship  at  dinner  or  in 
the  drawing-room.  He  was  profoundly  grateful  to  her 
for  all  that  she  did  to  revive  Bach's  music  in  England. 
His  admiration  of  her  is  shown  in  one  of  the  letters  in  the 
third  part  of  this  book ;  and  is  writ  large  in  the  two  volumes, 
by  him  and  Mr.  W.  S.  Rockstro,  "  Memoir  of  Madame  Jenny 
Lind-Goldschmidt. ' ' 

Among  his  many  other  friendships,  Scott  used  to  delight 
in  evenings  at  Newstead,  when  Mr.  John  Murray  would 


ii8  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

prowl  round  his  library,  pulling  out  here  and  there  some 
interesting  book  or  some  beautifully  illustrated  edition 
to  show  to  his  guests,  telling  reminiscences  all  the  time  of 
the  author  or  of  the  artist.  The  intimacy  at  Wressil  Lodge 
was  chiefly  with  the  daughters,  especially  with  Miss  May 
Frere.  Sir  Bartle  was  often  away  on  political  missions ; 
and  when  he  did  settle  down  at  home,  difference  of  political 
views,  and  perhaps  of  Church  views,  kept  them  from  being 
intimate ;  but  Scott  always  admired  Sir  Bartle's  high 
character  and  sweetness  of  temper.  He  administered  the 
Communion  to  him  on  his  death-bed ;  and  made  the 
arrangements  for  his  burial  in  St.  Paul's.  Another  Wimble- 
don friend  was  Wentworth  Hankey,  son  of  Mr.  Beaumont 
Hankey,  of  Richmond  House.  The  elder  Gores,  also, 
were  Scott's  companions  :  but  the  distinguished  Charles 
was  still  a  Harrow  boy  when  Scott  was  an  undergraduate ; 
and  was  at  one  time  an  unwilling  pupil  in  a  dancing-class 
with  me.  Herbert  Pollock,  son  of  Baron  Pollock,  was 
another  later  friend  :  he  became  a  Canon  of  Rochester, 
and  the  Baron  used  to  roll  out  his  satisfaction,  with  the 
Pollocky  growling  voice,  that  the  neighbourhood  had 
supplied  three  Canons  to  the  Church — "  Scott,  and  Charles 
Gore,  and  now  my  son  Hurb-u-r-t." 

Our  theatricals  were  founded  by  Scott ;  with  the  help 
of  an  Eton  friend,  an  admirable  mimic,  Ronald  Ferguson. 
They  were  planned  for  the  Christmas  holidays  :  and  in  the 
later  years  they  became  notable  performances.  The  earliest 
I  can  remember  was  "  A  Shadow  Pantomime,"  where 
behind  a  large  sheet,  with  a  particular  placing  of  lights, 
Scott  and  Ferguson  appeared  in  diverse  feats,  and  leaped 
into  space  :  then,  for  some  years,  came  farces  :  and  at 
last,  under  the  guiding  of  my  brother  Lawrence,  we  attained 
to  high-class  comedy.  Scott's  repertory  was  mainly  that 
of  the  "  comic  elderly  gentleman,"  or  that  of  the  "  confused 


HOME  LIFE  119 

fool."  *  In  the  old  play-biUs,  carefully  preserved  by  his 
mother,  I  find  him  as  "  the  Fader  of  She  "  in  I^i  on  parle 
Franfais  ;  "  Mr.  Sowerby  "  in  The  Phenomenon  in  a  Smock 
Frock  ;  "  John  Duck  "  in  The  Jacobites  ;  "  Schpoonenberg  " 
"  in  Your  Life's  in  Danger  (a  memorable  performance  of  his  ); 
and  "  John  "  in  Meg's  Diversion.  I  should  say  that  his 
line  was  limited,  and  that  he  could  not  take  the  .part  of 
"  jeune  premier."  His  last  appearance  must  have  been 
in  1874,  in  a  Scene  from  Henry  VIII.  ;  he  played  the  Earl 
of  Surrey,  to  Lawrence's  Wolsey.  But  he  did  not  care  to 
act  after  his  ordination  :  and  his  welcome  applause  en- 
couraged us  in  our  later  ambitious  attempts. 

The  family  holidays,  in  the  earlier  years,  were  now  and 
then  in  Switzerland  or  in  Italy.  In  1859,  he  and  Arthur, 
under  the  escort  of  a  Swiss  courier,  came  out  to  us  at  Champ- 
le-Banc,  above  Vevey  :  in  1863  we  were  near  Lucerne  :  he 
took  to  sketching,  on  this  holiday :  his  sketches  are  clean 
and  clear  :  and  at  intervals  the  grotesque  heads  come  in 
the  sketch-book  which  later  he  used  as  a  diversion  to  his 
lecture  notes,  but  never  to  his  sermons.  In  1866,  Switzer- 
land again,  and  his  long  illness  :  in  1869,  he  and  Nettleship, 
after  their  walking-tour  in  Wales,  joined  us  at  Dulverton, 
and  Nettleship  won  the  affection  of  aU  of  us,  and  especially 
of  my  sister  Amy  and  myself.  In  Rome,  Christmas-time 
1871,  Scott  had  an  interview,  under  the  auspices  of 
Monsignore  Howard,  a  friend  of  my  mother's,  with  Cardinal 
Antonelli ;  whom  he  disliked.  In  1877,  after  his  con- 
valescence in  Italy,  he  and  my  sister  Lilly  joined  us  at 
Pontresina :     here    they    met    many    friends — the    Arthur 

*  To  Legard.  Jan.  19,  1871. — I  have  been  sunk  in  the  toils  of  the 
world,  entirely.  We  had  two  plays  last  week,  followed  by  dancing,  here 
at  home.  Acting  is  such  fun  :  especially  as  they  went  off  capitally.  My 
Eton  brother  is  the  best  actor  I  know.  I  did  very  broad  comedy  and  lay 
hid  in  chests  and  got  up  chimneys,  which  seemed  to  amuse  the  audience. 
I  go  on  Monday  to  cousins :  dance  at  balls  on  Wednesday  and  Friday : 
and  Oxford  on  Saturday. 


120  HENRY   SCOIT   HOLLAND 

Aclands,  Canon  Body,  the  Muirheads,  Canon  Awdry  :  we 
did  some  glacier-expeditions  and  some  climbs  :  and  Scott 
and  Canon  Body  once  beguiled  Canon  Awdry  and  me  into 
a  roll  down  a  snow-slope,  with  joyful  shouting.  That 
autumn,  Scott  and  I  made  our  great  ascent  of  the  Blumlis- 
Alp.  This  was  not  the  last  of  his  holidays  abroad  :  but 
he  felt  the  boredom  of  Swiss  hotels,  and  found  his  own 
hills  more  beautiful  than  anything  in  Switzerland.  "  The 
Swiss  hills  are  rather  too  big,"  he  writes  to  a  friend  in 
1883,  "  I  prefer  the  Welsh."  And  in  1885,  "  I  cannot 
stand  foreign  parts  beyond  a  very  limited  time.  I  hunger 
for  sweet  human  beings." 

What  was  Scott's  actual  position  in  the  family  circle 
before,  let  us  say,  he  became  of  public  importance  ?  Between 
his  father  and  him,  after  he  grew  up,  there  was  probably 
only  one  thing  in  common,  and  that  was  Churchmanship  : 
though  his  father  stopped  short  at  the  Cambridge  High 
Church  standpoint  as  held  by  his  old  friend  Mr.  Webb  ; 
to  whose  church,  St.  Andrew's,  Wells  Street,  he  often 
went  when  he  was  in  town.  Apart  from  this  common 
interest,  Scott's  character,  habits,  and  political  and  social 
views,  differed  toto  coelo  from  those  of  his  father  :  so  that, 
except  for  their  sense  of  humour,  their  appreciation  of  the 
horse,  and  old  memories  of  Warwickshire  and  Gloucester- 
shire, there  could  be  little  easy  converse  between  them. 
The  father  was  justly  proud  of  his  son's  varied  achievements, 
but  was  apt  to  be  worried  by  Scott's  unpunctual  arrivals, 
losses  of  luggage,  quick  changes  of  talk,  ways  of  treating 
some  topics,  and  so  on  :  yet  never  did  I  hear  Scott  speak 
impatiently :  and  he  would  nearly  always  laugh  aside 
any  outbreak  of  political  wrath.  My  father  lived  a  good 
deal  apart  from  family  life,  and  was  never  at  luncheons  or 
at  five-o'clock  teas.  Though  lively  at  times,  a  keen  sight- 
seer on  travel,  and  with  a  chuckling  sense  of  humour,  he 


THE  HON.  CHARLOTTE  DOROTHEA  HOLLAND 

(Mother  of  Canon  H.  S.   Holland) 


HOME  LIFE  121 

lived  a  reserved  life  at  home ;   and,  as  one  of  my  brothers 
said,  was  a  born  bachelor  by  nature. 

The  family  devotion — shared  to  the  full  by  Scott — was 
poured  out  to  my  mother  :  she  was  the  unfailing  bond  of 
union.  She  was  quick  to  understand  her  children ;  most 
loving  to  all  of  them ;  intensely  proud  of  Scott's  success  ; 
and,  above  all,  overwhelmingly  hospitable  and  sympathetic 
with  young  people.  Friends,  callers,  social  gatherings, 
stray  young  men  for  Sundays,  these  abounded  at  Gayton, 
and  on  many  occasions  of  hired  houses  in  London  :  and 
even  when  she  settled  down  abroad,  at  Cannes,  or  in  Rome, 
or  in  Switzerland,  her  hospitality  continued.  The  affection 
of  the  family  was  openly  shown  in  caresses.  My  wife 
remembers  seeing  her  in  her  armchair  at  Gayton,  with  the 
four  sons  round  her,  all  then  grown  up,  one  stroking  her 
hand,  another  smoothing  her  hair,  Lawrence  in  his  odd  way 
lying  at  her  feet,  and  me  holding  her  other  hand  :  it  was 
no  special  occasion  :  we  all  "  flung  ourselves  "  at  her.  How 
much  she  influenced  Scott  when  he  was  grown-up,  it  is 
difficult  to  say.  She  certainly  planned  for  him  to  get  into 
the  Foreign  Office  ;  and  was  puzzled  at  his  taking  orders. 
I  doubt  whether  she  was  the  recipient  of  his  intellectual 
or  spiritual  confidences.  No  letters  remain,  from  her  to 
him,  belonging  to  the  critical  period  of  his  life  :  and  the 
few  remaining  letters  from  him  to  her  are  mostly  outpourings 
of  affection  on  her  birthdays,  or  descriptions  of  his  visits. 
More  probably,  his  confidence  was  given  to  his  elder  sister. 
But  that  he  loved  his  mother  with  all  the  warmth  of  his 
heart,  and  rejoiced  to  tell  her  of  every  advancement  of  his 
life,  no  one  can  doubt :  and  for  her,  his  choice  of  views 
and  all  his  doings  were  ever  right,  though  she  might  not 
always  appreciate  their  meaning  and  force.  She  clung 
to  his  spiritual  help  to  the  end. 

It  was  reserved  for  his  "  Aunt  Jane,"  Miss  Gifford,  to 


122  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

be  his  critic,  as  well  as  his  devoted  admirer.  She  did 
not  hesitate  to  combat  his  increasingly  Liberal  views,  or 
to  tell  him  "  not  to  be  toolish  "  over  the  ritualistic  excesses 
of  some  of  his  friends.  She  had  been  fond  of  him  from 
his  childhood.  There  was  a  wonderful  charm  about  her  ; 
especially  for  men.  In  spite  of  many  admirers,  and  at 
least  two  romances,  she  had  remained  single,  not  from  lack 
of  opportunity,  but  from  her  own  unwillingness  to  make  a 
final  choice.  Her  little  Belgravian  drawing-room  was  a 
miniature  salon  of  bright  talk,  with  many  interesting 
people :  old  admirers  came,  not  always  successfully,  to 
introduce  their  wives  :  Mr.  Otto  Goldschmidt  played  to 
her  :  Dr.  Liddon  was  tempted  to  teas  and  dinners  :  and 
through  her  brother  and  Lady  Salisbury  she  had  many 
friends  in  the  political  and  official  world.  Her  visits  to 
Gayton  are  associated  in  my  mind  with  the  entrance  into 
the  room  of  the  rustle  of  soft  raiment,  the  waft  of  scent, 
and  a  melodious  voice.  She  used  to  sing  Claribel  songs, 
and  snatches  of  Italian  Opera,  to  her  own  accompaniment, 
in  a  vibrato  style  with  tremulous  sentiment :  I  can  hear 
still  the  pathetic  notes  of  "Oh  ye  voices  gone,"  as  she  sat 
at  the  piano,  to  be  followed  perhaps  by  Scott  shouting 
Schubert  songs  at  her  bidding  :  the  Erl  Konig  was  one  of 
his  great  achievements.  Music,  books,  religious  affairs, 
they  revelled  in  discussing,  while  my  mother  nodded  on  her 
sofa  and  we  listened  in  awe,  trying  to  read  our  own  books. 
Then  there  were  rapturous  visits  to  her  cottage  at  Bettws, 
in  which  he  delighted,  coming  on  there  in  later  years  from 
visits  to  Hawarden,  for  her  to  exercise  her  wit  against 
his  growing  devotion  to  Mr.  Gladstone.  She  was  an  ardent 
Tory,  fed  up  on  the  Morning  Post.  As  Scott  developed 
to  be  a  leading  light  of  the  Church,  he  became  her  guide 
and  help,  but  she  did  not  often  go  to  hear  him  preach.  In 
early  days,  she  introduced  him  to  St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico  ; 


HOME  LIFE  123 

but  she  resented  the  "  high  jinks  "  and  "  mumbUngs  "  of 
later  ritualism. 

As  old  age  crept  on  and  old  friends  dropped  out,  and 
especially  after  my  mother's  death,  she  clung  more  and 
more  to  Scott's  help  in  sickness  and  in  sorrow ;  and  we 
thought  that  her  death  in  1901  would  have  been  felt  by  him 
as  deeply  as  that  of  his  mother,  and  that  the  loss  would  be 
irreparable.  But  his  extraordinary  vitality  and  high 
spirits  seemed  at  such  times  to  give  him  a  quick  rebound. 
While  we  others  would  be  silent  and  perhaps  too  much 
absorbed  in  our  sorrow,  he  would  break  in  with  talk  of 
outside  affairs,  or  of  books,  etc.,  and  gain  a  speedy  return 
to  ordinary  life.  He  disliked  graves,  and  seldom  visited 
them.*  Except  when  the  news  came  of  the  possibility  of 
Stephen  Fremantle's  dying,  I  never  saw  him  actually  break 
down,  though  tears  were  in  his  eyes  at  times  of  grief.  The 
Giffords  always  cried  both  in  grief  and  in  laughter.  It  was 
not  until  the  War  took  its  toll  of  young  lives,  with  many  of 
whom  he  had  been  on  terms  of  affection  or  friendship, 
that  he  seemed  to  get  weighed  down  by  the  sense  of  death. 

That  he  had  some  spiritual  guidance  over  the  family 
life,  may  be  assumed  :  but  except  for  his  influence  over  his 
elder  sister  he  never  pressed  this.  He  would  write  special 
letters  to  a  brother  or  sister  at  some  critical  time  :  he  would 
give  us  touching  little  commemorative  services  beside  a 
death-bed,  pouring  out  beautifully  worded  prayers  ;  some- 
times, perhaps,  with  more  emotion  than  we  ordinary  mortals 
could  bear.  But  his  brothers,  Arthur  and  Lawrence,  re- 
mained distinctly  in  a  Protestant  frame  of  mind  on  Church 

*  In  1915,  he  writes  to  the  widow  of  a  friend,  "  Graves  are  empty- 
things  :  they  do  nothing  for  one,  except  just  serve  to  symbolise  tenderness 
and  affection.  .  .  .  Anyhow,  do  not  trouble  over  your  '  gravelessness.' 
But  there  must  be  an  effort  to  make  it  intelligible  to  the  poor  maids,  re- 
membering that  their  whole  minds  and  hearts  go  out  to  the  graves.  If 
you  can  do  anything  to  set  them  at  ease  about  this,  by  some  sort  of  kindly- 
attention  to  the  poor  spot,  it  would  be  happier  for  them." 


124  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

matters.  His  political  views,  unless  he  were  urged  to 
argument,  he  never  obtruded  :  and  the  politics  of  his  father 
and  his  two  brothers  remained  of  an  unbending  Tory  type. 
I  followed  him  on  the  Liberal  side  ;  but  I  cannot  recollect 
that  he  ever  so  much  as  hinted  to  me  to  take  that  line  : 
and  it  was  only  when  he  found,  rather  to  his  amusement, 
that  I  was  sympathetic,  that  he  opened  out  freely  to  me. 
It  was  the  same  with  his  "  socialistic  "  views  :  and  it  came 
with  a  pang  to  me  that  I  had  never  visited,  till  after  his 
death,  the  Maurice  Hostels  which  he  so  cared  for  :  nor  did 
he  ever  press  his  family  for  donations  toward  their  support. 
Doubtless  my  having  followed  him  to  Eton  and  Christ 
Church  brought  us  into  closer  sympathy ;  and  his  goodness 
to  me  in  troubles  and  trials  at  both  places  soon  won  my 
affection :  and  at  last  I  was  the  only  brother  left  to  him. 
But  his  affection  for  each  and  all  of  us  never  failed. 


VII 

OTHER   MEMORIES 

Three  things  have  been  said  of  Holland  :  one,  by 
Mr.  G.  W.  E.  Russell,  that  he  was  "  anima  naturaliter 
Christiana  "  ;  another,  by  Lord  Kilbracken,  that  he  was 
"  born  with  the  philosophic  mind  ready-made " ;  the 
third,  by  himself,  in  1872,  "  I  suppose  I  have  got  some 
gush  of  naked  himianity  that  wiU  always  be  with  me." 
He  was  not  afraid  of  his  own  manhood :  he  did  not  let 
it  be  too  strong  for  him,  but  he  deUghted  in  it  every  day 
of  his  Ufe.  Friendship,  music,  poetry,  athletics,  flashes 
of  ironical  or  fanciful  talk,  ventures  of  thought  and  action, 
went  to  his  head.  Eton  and  Balhol  had  kept  back  from 
him  one  gift.  They  had  taught  him  nothing,  or  next  to 
nothing,  of  the  natural  sciences.  He  never  acquired  that 
habit  of  mind  which  comes  from  steady  practical  grinding 
at  chemistry  or  biology  with  microscopes  and  test-tubes. 
It  was  the  way  of  his  education,  to  neglect  the  natural 
sciences.     He  had  everything  else,  all  that  he  cared  for. 

Men  of  less  originaUty,  seeing  this  young  man  whirled 
away  from  them  by  his  immediate  enjoyment  of  each 
pursuit,  might  well  be  puzzled,  and  caU  him  unbalanced 
and  excitable.  At  Eton,  he  had  found  fault  with  himself 
for  idleness  and  "  lightheadedness  "  :  and  he  did  not,  as 
a  freshman,  take  Oxford  seriously.  But  in  1868  came  the 
change.     His  last  two  years  at  BaUiol  were  the  making  of 

125 


126  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

him.  They  brought  out  in  him  not  only  the  naturally 
Christian  soul,  the  philosophic  mind,  and  the  perfervid 
sense  that  the  world  "  means  intensely,  and  means  good," 
but  also  his  independence,  decisiveness,  and  resolute  will 
to  be  of  service  to  the  community. 

It  would  be  pleasant,  now,  to  have  that  essay  which 
he  wrote  for  T.  H.  Green,  in  1869,  on  Culture  and  the 
International,  suggesting  that  their  reconciliation  must 
lie  within  the  work  of  the  Church.  Oxford,  he  saw,  was 
not  doing  her  share  of  that  work.  He  detected  self-com- 
placency and  narrowness  in  Oxford  life  ;  they  cut  across 
his  happiness  in  his  own  life.  "  He  could  not  keep — for 
that  a  shadow  lower 'd  on  the  fields — here  with  the  shepherds 
and  the  silly  sheep."  Not  that  he  told  the  sheep  that  he 
thought  them  silly  :  but  he  had  ways  of  leading  them  which 
did  not  occur  to  other  shepherds. 

To  one  who  was  of  the  Christ  Church  flock  in  1874-78, 
it  seems  now  that  he  was  always  devising  plans  to  draw 
us  further  afield,  and  to  acquaint  us  with  what  was  happen- 
ing outside  Oxford  to  unfortunate  sheep  which  had  neither 
shepherds  nor  folds.  Other  young  dons  helped  him  in 
these  devices  :  but  he  invented  and  inspired  them.  Even 
with  that  inspiration,  they  were  not  very  effective  :  he 
must  be  there,  to  keep  us  going  :  we  strayed  away,  without 
him.  There  was  the  little  service  in  Cathedral,  every 
night  at  10  o'clock :  but  very  few  of  us  went  to  it,  and 
it  soon  fell  into  disuse.  There  was  the  Uttle  musical  society, 
which  met  in  the  Old  Lecture-room,  to  sing  glees  and 
choruses,  Mendelssohn's  (Edipus,  and  Integer  Vitae,  and 
so  forth  :  but  we  were  half-hearted  over  it.  There  was  the 
Christ  Church  Missionary  Association,  instituted  in  1876  : 
he  read  a  paper,  at  its  first  meeting,  on  "  Oxford,  a  home 
for  the  missionary  spirit  of  the  Church."  Later,  there 
was   a   Httle   vShakespeare   society.     In   1879,    the   Oxford 


OTHER  MEMORIES  127 

Mission  to  Calcutta  :  in  1879  or  1880,  the  first  meeting 
of  "  Pesek  "  :  in  1881,  the  founding  of  the  Christ  Church 
Mission  in  Poplar.  And  there  was  all  that  he  did  for  the 
White  Cross  League  in  Oxford  :  "  What  am  I  to  tell  you/' 
he  writes  to  Wilfrid  Richmond,  "  of  our  purity  work  ?  I 
send  you  a  paper  of  objects,  which  I  drew  up.  You  ought 
to  have  seen  New  Coll.  Hall  crammed  with  400  men  to 
hear  Bp.  of  Truro  speak  on  it.  I  hope  it  will  do.  Percival, 
Butler,  Talbot,  King,  Ottley,  Livingstone,  and  myself 
chiefly  do  it." 

He  set  himself  to  make  us  active,  not  lookers-on,  but 
plajdng  our  education  for  all  it  was  worth  against  injustice 
and  class-hatred  outside  Oxford.  He  found  us,  on  the 
whole,  rather  irresponsive  :  we  felt  his  influence,  but  were 
shy  of  confessing  it.  We  were  content  with  our  surround- 
ings :  they  may  have  been  a  Fool's  Paradise,  but  they 
certainly  were  a  Paradise.  It  is  strange  to  remember 
that  one  of  us,  whose  present  record  of  social  service  is 
known  far  and  wide,  was  capable  then  of  saying,  "  The 
difference  between  the  working-man  and  us  is,  that  we 
can  explain  him  but  he  can't  explain  us."  This  Olympian 
frame  of  mind  satisfied  some  of  us,  once  upon  a  time  :  and 
no  man  did  more  than  Holland  to  get  us  out  of  it,  and  to 
make  us  revise  our  estimates.  That  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Hoxton  venture,  so  far  back  as  1873  :  it  was  the  beginning 
of  all  that  he  did  to  turn  the  everlasting  "  Oxford  move- 
ment "  into  a  democratic  movement. 

He  would  invent  for  us  not  only  serious  interests  but 
the  most  fugitive  amusements.  At  Porlock  Weir,  in  April 
1878,  when  the  snow  was  on  the  hills,  it  was  a  new  game 
for  the  reading-party — to  run  full  tilt  at  a  snow-drift,  spin 
round,  and  fly  backward  into  it.  At  Oxford,  one  spring, 
it  was  jumping-parties  :  he  and  half-a-dozen  of  us  jumping 
or  attempting  the  streams  in  the  meadows  beyond  the 


128  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

railway  station  :  he  cleared  them  in  fine  style.  He  had 
such  a  way  with  him  that  leapfrog,  in  his  company,  would 
have  been  worth  playing. 

His  reading-parties,  of  course,  came  to  an  end  when  he 
left  Oxford  for  London  :  there  was  a  plan  for  all  who  had 
been  on  them  to  meet  in  London  for  a  final  dinner  with  him  : 
but  he  was  ordered  out  of  London  for  his  health,  and  the 
plan  fell  through.  Now  and  again,  in  the  later  years,  he 
looked-up  friends  on  a  reading-party :  he  writes  from 
Crookham,  in  April  1893  :  "  I  am  sitting  in  this  pleasant 
cottage,  with  a  little  Oxford  reading-party,  under  Strong — 
talking  old  shop,  telling  stories  of  Bayne,  and  Bright,  and 
all  the  old  lovely  names.  And  the  sun  pours  on  :  and  the 
birds  all  sing  :  and  the  woods  brood  over  their  buds,  until 
they  break,  and  burst  into  tender  tentative  inquiring 
green." 

Reading-parties,  when  Oxford  was  shut  against  us 
from  mid- June  to  mid-October,  were  a  wonderful  relief 
to  the  monotony  of  the  Long  Vacation.  It  was  hard  on 
us  to  be  exiles,  for  all  the  best  of  the  year,  from  one  of  the 
best  of  all  places  for  us  :  and  the  length  of  the  Long  became 
at  last  almost  unbearable.  Reading-parties  were  of  two 
kinds  :  those  with  a  tutor,  and  those  without.  The  Roscoff 
party  in  1873  was  transitional :  Holland  was  the  only 
graduate,  but  the  other  young  men  were  much  of  his  own 
age.  Later,  came  the  parties  which  were  indeed  his.  There 
might  be  a  second  in  command ;  but  it  was  Holland,  who 
led  us,  and  fed  us  :  and  if  any  shortage  of  supplies  had  to 
be  faced,  he  called  it  a  little  ItaUan  meal.  At  Bettws 
(1876)  he  gravely  took  back  to  the  butcher  a  leg  of  mutton 
which  was  high  :  but  the  butcher  asserted  that  it  had 
gone  high  in  Holland's  keeping.     Of  this  party,  he  writes  : — 

Evening  after  evening,  we  watch  steady  sunsets  of 
perfectly  pure  skies,  changing  softly  from  blue  to  green, 


OTHER  MEMORIES  129 

from  green  to  grey — and  the  slow  stars  suddenly  are  there, 
hung  in  a  perfectly  liquid  diamond  clearness.  The  streams 
are  nearly  vanished — but  still  we  plunge  into  salmon-pools — 
the  only  effort  we  can  make :  and  the  whole  party  runs 
very  smoothly.  The  boys  are  real  boys,  quite  child-hke : 
and  we  can  exercise  authority  when  we  Uke  without  fear : 
and  they  are  quite  gay  and  bright :  and  today  there  comes 
dear  Hardy  for  a  week,  which  is  delightful. 

It  is  disconcerting,  now,  to  find  that  he  thought  us 
quite  childlike.  But  we  had  not  the  heroic  stature  of  the 
young  men  in  Clough's  poem ;  none  of  us  fell  in  love  with 
a  village  maiden  ;  none  of  us  was  argumentative.  Nor 
did  he — more's  the  pity — draw  us  out.  As  he  says  of  the 
Roscoff  party,  "  If  nobody  is  inclined  to  '  talk  big,'  I  can- 
not, however  much  I  wish,  bring  it  on."  We  waited  in 
vain  to  be  drawn  out  by  him. 

In  the  later  years,  his  parties  became  larger :  any 
number  of  men  would  have  been  glad  of  an  invitation. 
Of  these  later  parties,  the  Bishop  of  South  Tokyo,  Dr. 
Boutflower,  writes  : — 

Will  any  one  recall  for  your  memoir  that  vision  of  wonder 
and  delight,  Holland  on  a  reading-party  ?  I  will  send  you 
a  hint  of  those  particular  memories  which  I  cannot  afford 
to  lose.  It  was  the  habit  of  two  or  three  younger  members 
of  that  circle  of  Churchmen  who  in  the  '80s  made  Christ 
Church  so  wonderful  a  place  of  inspnation  for  any  man 
thinking  of  ordination,  to  make  up  a  reading-party  in  the 
summer  vacation,  not  too  exclusively  brainy  or  pious, 
in  which  undergraduates  with  gay  waistcoats  might  trim 
the  boat  on  the  lay  side  against  tutors.  I  remember  the 
more  than  ordinary  excitement  that  the  seniors  disclosed 
when  Holland's  arrival  was  expected.  As  a  member  of 
the  House,  one  could  not  but  know  a  good  deal  about 
Scott  Holland  already — I  wonder  how  many  undergraduates 
had  more  reason  to  bless  him.  One  knew  that  he  lived  in 
Tom  Quad,  and  could  always  be  counted  on  in  time  of 
need  :  that  as  Senior  Proctor  he  was  an  object  of  interest 
to  more  than  the  House  itself,  and  that  one  out-college 

K 


130  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

man,  who  had  once  too  often  braved  the  darkness  of  Oxford 
streets  without  cap  and  gown,  had  expressed  his  opinion 
that  it  was  worth  being  sent  for  and  fined  five  shillings, 
to  see  the  Senior  Proctor  at  home,  sitting  on  the  coal-scuttle, 
nursing  one  leg,  and  genial  even  in  the  exercise  of  discipline. 
One  knew  that  in  these  rooms  he  sometimes  lectured  on 
theology,  pacing  the  floor  with  hands  thrust  in  high  trousers 
pockets,  or  taking  hold  of  the  door  into  his  inner  sanctum, 
and  drawing  on  the  edge  of  it  with  a  pencil  stump  :  and 
that  one  who  had  the  curiosity  to  make  private  inspection 
alleged  that  it  was  little  pigs  with  curly  tails  that  the 
lecturer  delineated  while  he  dealt  with  the  ontological 
proof.  We  knew  that  nothing  could  be  dull  that  Holland 
said  or  did.  But  why  this  special  excitement  of  the  reading- 
party  ?  There  was  a  story  afloat  that  Liddon  had  refused 
to  go  with  Holland  to  the  Alps,  because  Holland  always 
lost  his  head  in  mountain  air,  threatening  himself  with 
destruction  and  his  friends  with  nervous  collapse.  We 
drank  the  wine  of  Bettws-y-coed  air  and  sunlight,  but  we 
understood  that  the  champagne  would  come  with  Holland. 

And  so  indeed  it  did.  If  you  thought  you  were  too 
old  for  the  hymn  "  AJl  things  bright  and  beautiful,"  you 
might  yet  learn  it  again  with  Holland  on  holiday  in  Wales. 
It  was  quite  as  exuberant  as  making  bonfires  in  Peck.  How 
he  tore  down  the  grass  hill  to  the  little  river,  in  the  fresh 
sunlight  of  Sunday  morning,  on  the  way  to  early  service, 
and  took  the  stepping-stones  two  at  a  bound  !  And  then 
to  see  him  pull  himself  up  for  a  moment  in  mid-stream, 
legs  apart  and  hands  clasped,  and  exclaim  with  his  rapid 
and  intense  intonation,  "  Oh  I  say,  just  hark  at  the  dear 
little  water  saying  its  prayers  "  !  Or,  in  the  fields,  a  half- 
awake  cow  would  gaze  with  dreamy  eyes  at  so  strange  a 
disturber  of  the  early  morning  peace.  "  Hullo,  old  cow, 
what  are  you  thinking  of  ?  Are  you  thinking  what  a  funny 
little  man  Ottles  is  ?  " — the  beloved  Ottley  walking  leisurely 
behind  him. 

And  if  this  was  Sunday  morning,  then  what  of  other 
days  ?  When  he  was  there,  it  was  not  the  youngest  of  us 
who  got  first  to  the  top  of  a  climb,  or  who  shouted  most 
for  joy.  There  is  a  memory  too  of  a  strange  scene  when 
at  night  some  inspiration  had  suggested  a  moonlight  bathe, 
and  there  was  a  wild  rush  down  to  the  river — pyjamas 
and  whoopings.     It  was  all  part  of  the  champagne.     But 


OTHER  MEMORIES  131 

usually  we  put  away  our  reading  at  about  nine  o'clock 
(cocoa  and  compline,  I  think  it  was)  and  so  to  bed  decorously, 
but  possibly  not  without  singing.  Holland,  after  evening 
cocoa  or  morning  porridge,  would  sing  sotto  voce  the  first 
line  of  "  The  joys  of  day  are  over." 

Oh,  those  reading-parties  !  I  don't  remember  a  thing 
we  talked  of  :  but  I  know  it  wasn't  all  rubbish.  Those 
days  did  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  bring  the  beginning  of  any 
new  "  movement  "  :  but  they  confirmed  to  commonplace 
young  men  the  faith  that  our  sources  of  spiritual  help  and 
inspiration  were  one  with  the  fountains  of  gladness. 

He  kept  us  from  idleness,  but  he  did  not  interfere  with 
us  over  our  books  :  he  let  us  find  our  way  in  them  for 
ourselves.  There  is  a  letter  to  Fremantle,  after  one  of 
the  earliest  reading-parties,  Festiniog,  1872  : — 

I  am  convinced  from  a  study  of that  brains  vary 

in  quantity  not  in  quality.  This  explains  my  old  difficulty 
of  the  brilliancy  of  pass-men  in  the  ordinary  ways  of  life. 
He  is  just  as  good  as  any  of  us  for  a  certain  distance  ;  but 
the  stoppage  comes  before  ours,  and  there  is  a  dead  check, 
and  nothing  to  be  done  :  he  cannot  see  anything.  I  observe 
too  the  real  pass-men's  method  of  reading :  I  have  never 
believed  in  its  existence  before.  Half  the  time  we  are 
working,  he  is  dreaming,  thinking  of  nothing,  perfectly 
vacant,  gazing  gently  and  pensively  at  the  ceiUng.  His 
work  has  no  spark  of  interest  to  him.  There  is  no  intensity, 
no  stretch  of  intellect,  about  it.  It  lies  before  him,  and 
his  eyes  wander  over  it  half-consciously.  I  sometimes 
thought  I  might  offer  to  read  the  Aristotle  with  him  next 
term,  and  see  if  anything  like  enthusiasm  and  a  sense  of 
its  reality  and  truth  could  be  inspired  :  but  I  am  afraid 
I  cannot  do  this  sort  of  thing  for  people  who  do  not  under- 
stand a  good  deal  already  :  I  am  too  confused,  and  live 
too  much  in  shadowy  glimmerings  of  truth.  I  hope  some 
day  to  get  better — to  be  able  to  think  out  things  more 
thoroughly. 

But  this  1872  letter  does  not  represent  him  as  he  was 
in  the  later  years,  with  more  experience  of  teaching.     There 


132  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

are  letters,  not  long  before  1884,  to  an  undergraduate  who 
had  failed  in  Moderations  and  had  been  sent  down : — 

1.  This  is  miserable  !  and  not  even  to  see  you  !  I  am 
bitterly  disappointed  not  to  be  able  to  give  you  any  com- 
fort. A  cold  meagre  letter  is  too  hopelessly  inadequate, 
Juvenal  is  too  hard  :  you  can't  do  it.  It  has  been  a  mistake  ; 
not  even  all  Thomas'  wonderful  care  could  manage  it : 
it  is  a  most  difficult  book.  .  .  .  You  have  worked ;  you 
have  striven.  What  is  it  you  have  not  done  ?  There 
must  be  something  at  fault  in  your  way  of  reading  :  some 
failure  to  face  things,  to  lay  hold  of  things,  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  books.  Don't  put  it  down  to  accidents,  or 
misfortunes,  or  to  the  venom  of  examiners.  It  is  hard 
lines  :  but  that  is  not  all  it  is.  It  is  also  a  failure  :  and 
the  great  thing  is  to  learn  why.  Not  a  moral  failure  :  you 
were  grinding  well :  but  an  intellectual  failure,  a  failure 
to  learn  somehow.  Make  sure  of  this  :  and  then  you  will 
gain  by  the  experience.  Otherwise,  it  will  go  without 
profiting.  Poor  child,  must  you  turn  out  to  a  miserable 
tavern  ?  and  still  go  through  the  old  treadmill  grind  ? 
Oh  dear,  Oh  dear.  I  am  so  deeply  sorry  for  you.  It 
will  take  you  all  your  heart  to  keep  up  courage  and  hope. 
You  must  still  believe  it  can  be  done  :  and  you  must  buckle 
to,  with  a  firmer  faith  :  and  it  must  be  done  at  any  cost  : 
so  that  you  shall  not  feel  a  defeated  man. 

2.  I  have  been  greatly  disturbed  for  some  time  by 
rumours  and  confirmations  of  your  resolution  to  throw  up 
Oxford.  I  know  how  plain  and  rational  the  reasons  for 
doing  so  look  :  yet  against  them  all  stands  the  unanswerable 
argument  that,  to  do  so,  means  to  give  up  the  chance  of 
being  really  "educated."  Does  that  make  you  angry? 
I  think  the  plough  proves  that  you  have  not  yet  attained 
the  real  gift  of  reading.  It  is  a  very  hard  power  to  win  : 
it  is  the  real  essence  of  education.  It  means  the  power 
of  fixing  the  attention,  and  of  storing  the  results.  Now, 
no  tutorising  abroad  wiU  dream  of  teaching  you  this.  It 
will  only  encourage  that  general  skimming  of  things,  which 
is  so  deadly  in  examinations,  as  in  life.  It  will  teach  you 
how  to  pick  up  smatterings  :  how  to  make  a  respectable 
show  with  very  little.  It  wiU  never  take  your  mind  in 
hand,  and  refashion  it  into  a  good  and  capable  instrument. 
It  is  the  instrument,  that  is  wrong.     You  worked  all  right ; 


OTHER  MEMORIES  I33 

you  read  all  you  ought  to  have  read ;  but  there  was  a 
misuse  of  the  mind  with  which  you  read.  It  seems  to 
me  that  for  you,  who  have  so  many  interests  that  you 
easily  and  quickly  take  up  and  follow,  a  casual  cram  abroad 
is  the  worst  form  of  temptation.  Dear  child,  I  am  sorry 
to  speak  so  roughly  and  brutally.  But  I  am  too  fond  of 
you  not  to  be  frank.  It  is  rather  a  critical  decision  :  and 
1  feel  that  if  this  occasion  is  passed,  there  will  be  no  return 
or  recovery  possible.  I  believe  you  think  that  we  are 
all  going  to  cut  you  dead  because  you  are  not  a  member 
of  the  House  !  You  just  come  up  and  try !  Oh  dear, 
I  am^so  sorry  for  you,  and  your  trouble.  Forgive  my 
hard  words. 

And  in  1884  there  are  letters  to  Spencer  J.  Portal; 
after  the  gift  of  money  to  buy  books,  and  after  the  last  of 
the  reading-parties : — 

1.  Jtme  6,  1884. — My  heart  feels  full  of  blessing :  and 
all  the  more  because  (do  you  know  ?)  our  Ufe  here  is  un- 
blessed by  much  gratitude.  Shall  I  say  it  ?  Under- 
graduates do  not  ordinarily  seem  to  their  tutors  very  grate- 
ful. The  tutors  grind  on  (the  big  Pass  tutors,  I  mean) 
spending  all  their  strength  and  time  :  and  it  is  all  taken 
by  the  men  as  the  thing  paid  for  :  and  if  they  have  some- 
thing a  little  unlucky  in  manner  or  look,  no  amount  of 
pains  on  their  side  is  enough  to  save  them  from  harsh 
judgments,  and  they  get  but  httle  return  of  thanks. 

I  can  say  this  of  them,  because  I  never  had  their  fate  : 
you  boys  have  always  been  kindly  and  affectionate  to  me  ; 
though  I  never  did  a  quarter  of  the  work  that  the  others 
are  doing,  nor  took  half  the  trouble  for  you  that  they  did. 
This  is  really  true  :  and  the  more  I  feel  your  great  kindness 
to  me,  the  more  I  feel  how  rarely  at  Oxford  gratitude  finds 
its  way  forward.  Yet  it  is  such  a  marvellous,  life-giving 
boon,  this  of  gratitude.     How  can  I  tell  you  how  it  cheers  ? 

2,  Aug.  1884. — It  was  wonderfully  happy  and  good, 
wasn't  it  ?  I  never  knew  a  party  go  more  easily,  and 
brightly,  and  good-ly.  I  found  in  it  the  old  joy  that  I  love 
so  much,  the  joy  of  delicious  ease,  and  of  most  pleasant 
free  intimacy ;  and  aU  lying  about  the  associations  of 
lovely  scenery,   and    with  the    justifying    atmosphere    of 


134  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

virtuous  work  to  purify  and  dignify  and  sweeten  everything, 
so  that  everything  lives  at  once — eyes  and  heart  and  brain 
and  limbs  :  and  I  was  so  glad,  again,  too,  to  iind  bathing 
possess  its  fund  of  ancient  bliss.  Aug.  12. — I  do  desire 
that  the  memory  of  a  reading-party  should  be  the  memory 
of  a  time  when  you  were,  at  once,  at  your  best  and  at  your 
happiest.  It  is  such  a  blessed  thing  to  know,  and  feel, 
that  it  is  very  happy  to  be  good.  You  have  been  so  wonder- 
fully loyal  and  grateful  to  me  :  and  such  loyalty  is  the 
best  cheer  that  is  possible.  It  helps  more  than  anything 
else  in  the  world.  Do,  please,  use  me  whenever  I  can  at 
all  help.  Will  you  come  to  me  in  any  trouble,  or  per- 
plexity ?  I  should  always  be  so  grateful  if  you  would. 
Believe  this,  always.  And,  perhaps,  if  at  any  time  you  can 
by  a  word  help  Ch.  Ch.  to  go  along  quietly,  and  can  save 
the  boys  from  doing  anything  cruel  to  Sampson,  which 
would  bring  on  hideous  distresses,  you  will  try  to  say  that 
word,  will  you  ?  .  .  .  I  cannot  bear,  do  you  knov/,  to 
hear  you  call  me  "  Mr."  Do  leave  it  out.  It  is  too  stiff. 
Do  you  think  you  could  ? 


Mostly,  we  undergraduates  did  not  see  below  the  sur- 
face of  his  life ;  we  were  hardly  conscious  of  the  latent 
severity  in  him.  For  many  years,  perhaps  more  than 
twenty,  he  used  a  scourge  :  and,  of  course,  he  observed 
a  rule  of  fasting :  but  not  beyond  the  bounds  of  common- 
sense  :  as  he  advises  a  friend,  "  I  would  take  enough  food 
to  bring  me  into  the  normal  condition  which  I  am  in  before 
food  in  the  ordinary  way.  I  would  take  enough  to  save 
me  from  physical  anxiety,  or  distress,  or  alarm  over  my 
body.  I  should  wish  still  to  be  in  the  mind  in  which, 
normally,  I  find  myself  in  the  early  morning." 

The  surface  of  his  life  was  so  delightful  to  watch,  and 
his  mind  at  play  so  charmed  us,  that  we  did  not  set  our- 
selves to  pry  into  him  :  and  if  he  had  caught  us  at  it,  he 
would  have  withered  us.  But  some  of  his  friends,  who 
knew  him  in  fuller  confidence,  were  able  to  see  below  the 
surface.     As  Philip  Waggett  said,  in  igi8  : — 


OTHER  MEMORIES  i35 

There  was  a  certain  sternness.  You  remember,  at 
Christ  Church,  Holland's  white  face  when  some  disturbance 
was  forward  which  we  thought  innocent  enough.  There 
was  a  fire  under  that  geniaUty,  the  geniality  which  some- 
times led  people  to  think  that  he  was  tolerant  of  real  mischief. 

No  man  could  be  more  tender  with  those  who  failed 
and  stumbled ;  no  man  was  more  conscious  of  infirmity 
and  fault  in  himself.  No  man  could  be  gentler  with  the 
largest  possible  transgressions  in  a  multitude  or  in  an 
individual.  But  speak  a  word  in  the  sense  that  the  failure 
did  not  matter,  that  failure  might  not  be  failure,  that 
transgression  might  do  no  harm,  that  we  might  in  some 
degree  unclasp  the  armour  of  hoHness  or  put  aside  a  demand 
of  the  great  law ;  and  there  was  a  new  note  in  Holland's 
voice. 

He  was  intolerant  of  every  compromise  of  the  abstract 
claim  of  right.  He  was  intolerant  also  of  every  compromise 
of  the  abstract  claim  of  reason.  If  there  is  a  man  who 
never  saw  Holland  angry — and  I  continually  meet  such 
men — I  wish  it  were  not  too  late  to  say.  Try  him  with  some 
stammering  claim  of  obscurantism.  Tell  him  that  you 
do  not  care  whether  a  thing  is  true  or  not,  so  long  as  it  is 
charming ;  say  in  an  accent  of  religion  or  in  the  name  of 
the  Church  that  you  have  parted  with  free  choice,  that  you 
are  afraid  of  using  your  judgment ;  that  you  suppose 
all  things  will  come  right  if,  without  the  effort  of  intelligence 
and  the  effort  to  know,  you  trust  yourself  to  some  stream 
of  tendency  not  yourself  that  makes  for  righteousness. 
Then  you  shall  see  Holland  angry. 


PART   II 


ST.   PAUL  S 

In  Miss  Church's  Life  of  Dean  Church,  Holland  has  written 
of  the  dreariness  of  St.  Paul's  in  its  unregenerate  days. 
"  It  was  waiting  for  the  discovery  of  its  activities.  Its 
main  bulk  lay  practically  idle,  except  for  special  occasions 
such  as  the  festival  of  the  charity  children,  or  on  great  public 
functions  such  as  the  burial  of  a  hero.  At  all  other  times, 
over  the  length  and  breadth  of  its  large  area — cold,  naked, 
and  unoccupied — mooning  sight-seers  roamed  at  large. 
Its  daily  services  had  always  been  hidden  away  in  the 
choir,  behind  the  thick  organ-screen  against  which  Wren 
had  so  vehemently  protested.  There,  in  seclusion,  a  tiny 
body  of  cultivated  musicians  sang  to  a  sprinkled  remnant 
of  worshippers.  Everything  was  done  on  the  smallest 
scale,  and  much  was  mean  and  slovenly  to  the  last  degree. 
The  attendance  of  the  Chapter,  and  of  the  cathedral  staff, 
was  reduced  to  a  minimum.  There  was  little  attempt 
at  discipline  or  at  dignity  in  the  conduct  of  the  daily 
services."  To  an  old  Londoner,  the  present  influences 
of  St.  Paul's  are  one  of  the  best  things  in  England  :  for  he 
can  recall  the  time  of  its  desolation.  The  festival  of  the 
charity  children  took  a  fortnight  of  preparing,  with  the 
building-up  of  a  vast  amphitheatre  of  seats  for  them : 
it  was  effective,  as  a  bit  of  sentiment ;  it  pleased  Blake 
and  Thackeray  :   but  it  was  not  much  of  a  festival  for  the 

139 


140  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

children :  there  was  a  sermon  of  portentous  length,  and 
some  of  them  fainted,  and  had  to  be  removed.  On  rare 
occasions,  "  Service  under  the  Dome  "  would  be  announced, 
and  people  would  observe  this  event  of  the  Christian  year. 
But  St.  Paul's  was  less  attractive  to  the  masses  than  its 
neighbour  Newgate  :  where  the  old  Londoner  can  remember, 
on  a  Sunday  morning,  seeing  a  crowd  of  men  and  women 
already  waiting  for  the  pubHc  hanging  of  the  pirates  of 
the  Flowery  Land  on  the  Monday  morning. 

Dean  Church  was  appointed  in  187 1.  "  It  is  clear," 
he  writes  to  Dr.  Mozley,  "  that  what  I  am  to  come  in  for 
is  very  tough  practical  business,  and  that  I  am  not  to  be 
as  other  Deans  have  been.  It  is  to  set  St.  Paul's  in  order, 
as  the  great  English  Cathedral,  before  the  eyes  of  the 
country.  I  mean  that  this  is  what  Gladstone  has  in  view, 
and  what  Liddon,  Gregory,  and  partially  Lightfoot  expect 
of  their  Dean."  And  to  Dr.  Asa  Gray,  "  Times  are  changed. 
What  is  required  now  is  that  St.  Paul's  should  waken  up 
from  its  long  slumber,  and  show  what  use  it  is  of,  and  how 
it  can  justify  its  existence  as  the  great  cathedral  church 
of  London." 

He  came,  as  Holland  says,  "  at  the  most  favourable 
moment  that  could  possibly  be  imagined.  The  conditions 
vital  to  the  impending  change  had  all  been  prepared  with 
curious  felicity.  The  whole  of  the  Chapter  who  had  grown 
up  under  the  older  regime  had  died  within  three  years, 
and  the  new  men  were  simply  waiting  for  the  opportunity 
to  begin.  Gregory  had  been  appointed  by  Lord  Beaconsfield 
in  1868  ;  Liddon  by  Mr.  Gladstone  in  1869 ;  Lightfoot 
by  the  same  judgment  in  1870.  Already  the  movement 
of  a  new  activity  was  astir.  The  crowds  which  came  to 
Liddon's  sermons  had  carried  the  ordinary  Sunday  service 
out  of  the  choir  into  the  dome ;  and,  once  there,  it  never 
went  back.    The  re-arrangement  of  the  whole  choir  was 


ST.   PAUL'S  141 

under  consideration  and  experiment.  Lectures  and  services 
in  the  chapter-house  for  City  men  were  being  schemed. 
The  committee  for  the  decoration  of  the  cathedral,  which 
had  stagnated,  had  been  revived." 

The  organ-screen,  of  course,  had  made  it  impossible 
for  St.  Paul's  to  be  what  it  is  now,  the  Londoner's  parish- 
church  with  all  London  for  its  parish  :  and  that  is  a  poor 
phrase  for  it :  Canon  Alexander,  in  a  sermon  during  the 
War,  found  the  right  phrase — "  the  parish-church  of  the 
British  Empire."  The  removal  of  the  screen  had  been 
decided  so  far  back  as  i860  :  and  for  some  years  after 
i860,  the  dethroned  organ  wandered  about  the  Cathedral, 
till  in  1870  its  present  place  was  chosen.  The  whole  scheme 
for  the  redemption  of  St.  Paul's  came  into  being  with  the 
abolition  of  that  wall  between  the  choir  and  the  space 
under  the  dome.  It  routed  the  choristers  out  of  their  slack- 
ness :  it  flung  open  the  whole  Cathedral,  from  end  to  end, 
as  our  very  own.  But  would  we  care  to  have  it,  and  would 
we  get  to  be  fond  of  it  ?  If  the  genius  of  the  reformers 
had  not  inspired  them,  year  in  year  out,  we  should  still 
be  fighting  shy  of  St.  Paul's. 

From  end  to  end,  the  Cathedral  must  be  in  continuous 
use,  "  as  continuous  as  the  life  which  it  was  needed  to  sanctify. 
Morning,  noon,  and  evening,  there  it  must  be,  unfailing, 
unflagging."  The  services  must  be  full  of  dignity  and  of 
honour  :  nothing  mean  or  careless  in  them.  The  celebration 
of  the  Holy  Communion  "  must  be  brought  out  of  the 
comer  in  which  it  has  hitherto  lurked."  The  music  must 
appeal  to  great  crowds.  "  At  St.  Paul's,  with  its  Palladian 
spaciousness,  with  its  unbroken  vistas ;  at  St.  Paul's, 
set  upon  the  central  platform  in  the  midst  of  enormous 
populations — it  was  essential  that  the  appeal  should  be 
wide-winged ;  its  music  must  be  full- voiced,  powerful, 
abundant ;    it  should  reach  to  all  parts  of  the  building ; 


142  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

it  must  be  capable  of  drawing  multitudes  under  its  spell." 
The  very  best  of  everything  must  be  given  freely,  as  belonging 
to  everybody  :  "  there  should  be  no  challenging  vergers, 
no  obstruction  to  free  movement,  no  inquiries,  no  suspicions, 
no  exclusions,  no  shaking  of  the  money-bag."  Finally, 
St.  Paul's  must  be  in  touch  with  all  the  good  works  of  the 
London  diocese,  to  draw  them  together :  "  missions, 
committees,  guilds,  leagues,  societies,  associations — all  these, 
in  their  manifold  varieties,  should  find  opportunity  for 
union,  in  corporate  acts  of  worship,  before  the  one  altar, 
under  the  mothering  dome." 

About  1873,  the  Choir  School  in  Dean's  Court  was  insti- 
tuted, and  the  whole  choral  foundation  was  reconstructed. 
At  the  Choir  School,  forty  boys  receive  board  and  lodging 
and  a  liberal  education,  in  return  for  their  services  to  the 
Cathedral.  The  choir-men  are  six  Vicars  Choral,  who  are 
on  the  foundation,  and  twelve  Assistant  Vicars  Choral. 

The  Cathedral  staff  includes  four  vergers ;  and  ten  or 
eleven  guides,  whose  chief  duty  is  to  attend  to  the  visitors 
coming  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  There  are  also  in  the 
permanent  employ  of  the  Cathedral  some  forty  or  fifty 
workmen ;  and  the  expense,  always  heavy,  of  maintaining 
the  staff  and  the  services  has  been  greatly  increased  by 
the  War.  In  the  time  of  the  air-raids,  a  band  of  volunteer 
workers,  trained  by  the  London  Fire  Brigade,  and  numbering 
250  men,  was  on  duty  day  and  night.  The  Cathedral  had 
three  very  narrow  escapes  from  bombs,  and  was  twice  hit 
by  our  own  shells  :  one  of  them  went  through  the  roof  of 
the  south  transept.  Raid  after  raid,  and  always  the  crypt 
for  a  shelter,  and  always  the  dome  untouched,  and  the 
services  as  beautiful  as  ever.  In  all  London,  there  is  only 
one  building  symbolical  of  all  London  :  and  that  is  the  dome 
of  St.  Paul's. 

Holland  was  a  Canon  of  St.  Paul's  for  twenty-six  years. 


ST.   PAUL'S  143 

Long  before  he  came,  the  work  of  the  reformers  had  been 
completed  :  but  St,  Paul's  was  still  waiting  for  the  reredos 
and  the  mosaics.  His  months  in  residence  were  January, 
May,  and  September.  From  1886  to  1910,  he  was  Precentor  : 
during  the  later  years,  he  was  also  Treasurer  to  the  Chapter. 
The  ofifice  of  Precentor  is  a  foundation  of  the  thirteenth 
century ;  there  is  a  second  in  command,  the  Succentor  : 
but  the  Precentor  has  general  supervision,  and  a  good  deal 
of  influence  over  the  choice  of  the  music.  Holland  threw 
himself  with  great  eagerness  into  everything  connected 
with  these  matters ;  and  his  dealings  with  men  and  boys 
are  remembered  for  his  wonderful,  and  not  always  dis- 
criminating, generosity.  The  Treasurer  to  the  Chapter 
is  a  modern  official,  appointed  annually  by  the  Chapter : 
and,  as  he  is  concerned  with  the  Cathedral  finance  and 
fabric  and  property  and  work-people,  he  has  a  large  and 
very  responsible  place  in  the  general  administration.  In 
this  important  post,  Holland  was  Gregory's  successor  ; 
with  less  aptitude  for  business,  but  not  with  less  zeal  for 
the  honour  and  glory  of  St.  Paul's.  (The  Treasurer  to 
the  Chapter  must  be  distinguished  from  the  Treasurer  of 
the  Cathedral,  Thesaurarius,  whose  office  dates  from  the 
twelfth  century.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Cathedral,  with 
a  Sacrist  under  him,  is  in  charge  of  the  Cathedral's  material 
possessions ;  its  pictures,  ornaments,  vestments,  and  so 
forth.  He  is  the  second  in  order  of  the  four  "  ma j  ores 
personae,"  the  other  three  being  the  Archdeacon  of  London, 
the  Precentor,  and  the  Chancellor :  these  four  officers 
are  appointed  by  the  Bishop  of  London) . 

Amen  Court  has  shared  in  the  general  improvement 
of  everjrthing  belonging  to  St.  Paul's :  the  new  houses 
for  the  Minor  Canons,  and  the  cleared  garden-space,  make 
it  pleasant.  Holland,  all  the  twenty-six  years,  lived  at 
I,  Amen  Court.    His  brother  writes  of  it : — 


144  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

The  house  had  for  its  front  a  dull  outlook  on  the  blank 
wall  of  Stationers'  Hall.  The  drawing-room  was  of  fine 
length  :  but  with  this  outlook  it  appeared  to  better  advantage 
when  it  was  lit  up  at  night.  The  white-painted  hall  and 
staircase  were  an  inviting  entrance  to  the  house.  But  the 
real  living-room  was  Scott's  study,  a  long  low  room  looking 
out  on  the  little  garden-space.  It  had  been  Sydney  Smith's 
dining-room.  Scott's  writing-table,  strewn  with  letters 
and  papers,  was  at  one  end  of  the  room  ;  and  his  secretary's 
at  the  other.  The  walls  were  lined  with  bookshelves. 
As  one  entered  on  a  winter's  day,  Scott  would  wheel  round 
his  writing-chair  to  the  grand  fire  which  was  then  to  be 
had,  and  would  invite  one  to  sit  over  it  for  a  talk.  Beyond, 
was  the  little  prayer-room  sanctum,  where  doubtless  many 
aching  hearts  found  consolation,  and  where  the  household 
would  gather  of  an  evening  as  Scott  poured  out  his  prayers, 
with  a  Psalm  and  perhaps  a  verse  of  a  hymn,  throwing  up 
his  hands  sometimes  in  his  fervour,  and  then  rising  to  wave  a 
kindly  goodnight. 

From  1884  to  1897,  his  home  was  under  the  quiet  capable 
rule  of  his  elder  sister,  who  did  everything  to  secure  for  him 
domestic  peace.  She  read  to  and  wrote  for  him  ;  entertained 
his  many  guests,  in  her  reserved  way  ;  made  friends  among 
the  Amen  Court  and  Deanery  coterie ;  and  regularly 
attended  the  St.  Paul's  services.  Sunday  teas  during  his 
"  residences "  were  a  large  undertaking ;  friends  and 
admirers  flocked  in  :  but  he  was  so  tired  after  preaching 
that  he  was  resolutely  shut-away  by  her  in  his  dining-room, 
and  only  one  or  two  intimates  were  allowed  a  sight  of 
him.  "  The  Canon's  Conscience  "  was  an  apt  name  given 
to  her  by  an  epigrammatic  friend.  She  kept  his  list  of 
engagements,  looked  out  trains  for  his  journeys,  managed 
his  housekeeping  with  quiet  but  ceaseless  regularity ; 
and  was  his  companion  in  Italy,  and  in  Greece,  on  two 
occasions  when  he  was  ordered  away  from  work. 

It  was  only  for  six  years,  that  he,  Dean  Church,  and 
Dr.  Liddon  were  together  at  St.  Paul's.  Dr.  Liddon  died 
in  September,  and  the  Dean  in  December,  1890.  There 
are  two  letters  from  Dr.  Liddon :  one  of  advice  as  to  the 
choice  of  hjnnns  :  the  other,  a  few  weeks  before  death, 
in  a  broken  handwriting  : — 


ST.   PAUL'S  145 

Hatfield  House.  Jan.  9,  1887. — There  is,  I  believe, 
no  doubt  that  hymns  do  more  to  keep  reUgion  ahve  among 
the  half-instructed  or  uninstructed  mass  of  our  people 
than  any  other  feature  of  our  public  worship.  Certainly 
they  do  much  more  than  our  sermons  :  and  for  one  who 
joins  with  earnest  sincerity  in  the  prayers,  five  or  six  join 
or  try  to  join  in  the  hymn.  In  Protestant  Germany,  as 
you  know,  the  infidelity  of  the  pulpit  has  been  constantly 
neutralized  by  the  Gesangbuch.  ...  In  choosing  hymns, 
there  are  two  principles  which  ought  apparently  to  be  kept 
in  view.  The  first  is  that  they  should  follow  with  unde- 
viating  accuracy  the  teaching  of  the  Church  in  her  sacred 
seasons.  It  seems  to  me  a  grievous  mistake  to  disturb 
the  sequence  of  this  precious  teaching  in  order  to  make  a 
hymn  dance  attendance  on  a  sermon.  The  second  principle 
is  to  choose  objective  and  not  subjective  hymns.  The 
objective  hymn  makes  Christ  our  Lord  its  theme  :  the 
subjective  hymn  is  either  an  ode  to  self,  or  an  assertion 
of  self  disguised  in  religious  language.  Practically,  in 
the  book  we  use  at  St.  Paul's,  it  is  as  a  rule  better  to  choose 
the  Ancient  (or  hymns  written  in  the  ancient  spirit)  and  to 
leave  out  the  Modern.  Under  this  last  head,  the  collection 
contains — to  speak  frankly — much  rubbish,  which  has 
perhaps  helped  it  to  popularity  in  unpromising  quarters, 
but  which  might  now  be  rooted  out  with  great  advantage. 

Stonehouse,  Gloucestershire.  July  20,  1890.  Thank  you 
again  and  again  for  your  letter.  By  God's  mercy  I  have 
come  here  ;  and  although  last  night  was  a  night  of  great 
suffering,  the  air  already  seems  to  be  doing  me  good.  What 
a  world  is  the  world  of  pain  !  How  little  do  we  know  of 
it  during  the  greater  part  of  our  lives  !  What  a  revelation 
of  the  awful  Justice  of  God,  and  yet  more  of  His  marvellous 
love  !  Until  now,  I  had  no  idea  of  what  it  might  mean 
to  a  human  being.  Pray  our  Lord,  dear  friend,  that  if 
He  is  so  good  as  to  spare  my  life,  I  may  not  forfeit  the 
graces  which  He  wishes  me  to  gain  by  this  visitation,  and 
that  it  may  not  be  to  me  as  nothing,  or  worse  than  nothing. 
Your  most  affectionate. 


The  Canon  in  residence  is  responsible  for  the  arrangement 
of  aU  special  services  held  during  his  months  of  residence. 
Holland's  quickness  of  mind,  and  his  keen  sense  of  the 

L 


146  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

fitness  of  things,  helped  him  well  on  such  occasions,  especially 
when  the  time  for  preparation  was  short.  There  is  a  letter 
to  his  sister,  in  April  1890,  from  Rome,  about  the  annual 
festival  of  the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  : — 

Would  you  write  to  Bowman,  Sons  of  Clergy  Secretary, 
begging  him  from  me  to  see  whether  the  Psalms  and  First 
Lesson  of  the  Festival  may  be  reconsidered.  Tempers  and 
minds  are  changed  :  and  it  now  seems  to  us  a  terrible 
irony  to  sing  "  Happy  is  the  man  who  has  his  quiver  full 
of  them  " — on  an  occasion  like  this.  Such  a  psalm  raises 
all  the  problem  of  the  families  of  the  clergy.  It  is  most 
unfortunate,  in  its  application  to  this  instance.  Everybody 
in  church  must  be  conscious  of  the  difficulty  :  and  especially 
the  laity,  whom  we  are  inviting  to  give.  And,  then,  could 
we  not  read  something  less  exalted  in  key  than  "  The 
wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  "  ?  We  are  thinking  of 
giving  some  necessary  and  scanty  aid  to  pinched  children  : 
and  we  cannot  attribute  to  our  gifts  the  highest  fulfilment 
of  Messianic  joy.  It  is,  really,  a  serious  matter.  Pray 
put  it  strongly.  Otherwise,  we  may  find  ourselves  the 
subjects  of  some  caustic  ridicule. 

Another  letter,  to  Lieut.-Col.  H.  Everitt,  Sept.  1896, 
is  in  answer  to  a  request  for  a  special  service  on  Trafalgar 
Day.  It  is  just  like  him,  thus  to  string  together  chaff,  and 
good  advice,  with  a  couple  of  lines  of  faultless  beauty  : — 

Forgive  my  mutinous  silence,  unstirred  by  thoughts 
of  Nelson  and  the  North.  When  would  you  old  salts 
wish  to  come  to  St.  Paul's  and  hitch  your  trousers  and  dance 
your  historic  hornpipe  ?  And  what  hour  would  you  wish 
the  deck  cleared  for  action  ?  And  the  Union  Jack  run 
up  the  main-mast-jib-boom  ?  We  should  not  have  to 
fling  our  fists  in  the  face  of  the  Frenchman,  should  we  ?  and 
taunt  him  for  his  snails  and  frogs  ?  It  is  not  well  in  Church 
to  blow  up  dying  fires,  or  to  wake  dead  feuds.  We  should 
not  brag  over  the  "  parlez-vous  " — but  soberly,  wisely, 
discreetly,  and  in  the  fear  of  God,  lay  the  cause  of  England 
before  the  Throne  of  God.  Is  that  it  ?  An  Army  Guild 
sort  of  service  ?  Thank  you  for  loving  St.  Paul's.  We 
can  pray  to  be  allowed  to  keep  the  services  where  they  are. 


ST.   PAUL'S  147 

Another  letter,  Dec.  1899,  is  about  a  memorial-service 
during  the  South  African  War  : — 

I  rather  resent  any  attempt  to  utilise  this  awful  moment 
in  order  to  squeeze  forward  a  point  in  the  Catholic  movement. 
Of  course,  I  long  for  a  full  requiem.  But,  just  now,  we  are 
all  drawn  into  one  body  by  a  deep  anxiety :  and  that  is 
the  great  force,  moral  and  spiritual,  of  the  hour.  And  we 
must  not  divide  that  unity  up  again.  We  must  do  what 
we  can  do,  together.  A  requiem  would,  at  once,  reduce 
the  act  to  a  partial  demonstration.  It  would  no  longer 
be  possible  to  make  it  national.  In  a  Cathedral,  it  would 
mean  the  loss  of  all  that  made  the  service  national  and 
representative.  It  would  have  caused  angry  controversy 
at  a  moment  when  controversy  would  be  intolerable.  It 
is  a  great  fact  to  have  got  so  far  as  we  did.  It  is  a  great 
fact  to  accustom  the  whole  body  of  people  to  remember 
the  dead  before  God.  The  service  was  not  thin.  It  was 
framed  carefully  by  Newbolt  on  Catholic  lines.  It  was  not 
a  burial  service  mangled ;  but  a  commemoration  of  the 
dead  before  the  Throne.  This  is  a  big  step  for  a  nation. 
It  is  as  far  as  they  can  get.  And  it  is  the  nation  of  which 
we  must  think  now.  Was  it  not  most  beautiful  and 
serious  ?  I  thought  it  quite  overwhelming.  God  bless 
you  all  for  your  Xmas  Peace. 

In  the  spring  of  1897,  he  planned  and  obtained  for  St. 
Paul's  the  gift  of  Mr.  Watts's  "  Time,  Death,  and  Judgment." 


To  Mrs.  Ady 

I.  March  12. — ^Two  visits  to  the  Watts  collection  have 
made  me  burn  with  desire  to  see  two  great  works  of  his 
in  St.  Paul's.  They  are  to  go  to  the  nation  :  and  would 
not  the  nation  wish  to  see  them  there  where  they  would 
best  tell  ?  They  should  hang  in  the  two  great  panels  at 
the  entrance  of  the  nave,  where  they  would  comfort  all 
the  weary  tramps  who  doze  and  dream.  Is  it  at  all  con- 
ceivable ?  It  would  be  useless  to  have  any  but  the  largest 
for  such  a  position.  But  I  think  Time,  Death,  and  Judg- 
ment, for  instance,  would  be  large  enough  to  speak  there  ; 
or  even  the  Charity  :   but  this  could  all  be  considered  if  he 


148  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

was  at  all  prepared  to  think  of  it.     How  could  it  be  most 
delicately  suggested  ? 

2.  I  hardly  know  how  to  put  before  Mr.  Watts  my  strong 
desire,  without  seeming  to  be  impudently  and  selfishly 
bent  on  glorifying  St.  Paul's.  But  could  you  suggest  it 
to  him,  so  that  he  should  feel  that  my  desire,  that  two  of 
his  great  pictures  should  hang  in  the  Cathedral  for  the 
nation's  good,  springs  out  of  a  sincere  belief  that  this  would 
be  the  right  way  to  honour  his  gifts  ;  that  so  alone  would 
they  be  worthily  housed  ;  that  in  this  way  they  would 
best  deliver  their  deepest  message.  They  would  reach  the 
poor  and  needy,  who  sit  and  dream  all  down  our  nave  : 
they  would  be  a  wonderful  power  in  the  middle  of  the 
throngs. 

3.  Triumphant !  We  voted  to  accept,  with  furore,  on 
Tuesday.  Richmond  has  written  a  glowing  letter,  and 
will  advise  how  to  hang.  I  have  written  our  heartfelt 
thanks,  in  the  name  of  all  the  tramps  in  the  nave,  to  the 
dear  old  man. 

4.  It  is  hung.  Richmond  is  enthusiastic.  It  is  per- 
fectly splendid,  glowing,  beautiful.  It  quite  peoples  the 
church.  I  have  been  revelling  all  day  in  the  glory  of  it. 
If  only  the  old  man  is  pleased  ! 

He  hoped  for  the  gift  of  a  companion  picture  *  :    he 
writes  in  July  to  Heywood  Sumner : — 

I  am  pleading  for  another  :  and  am  suffering  under  the 
rebuff  of  a  prolonged  silence.  The  dear  old  fellow  came  to 
lunch  and  was  so  happy,  and  evidently  meant  to  give 
another  if  pressed.  But  I  rather  wanted  to  avoid  "  The 
Spirit  of  Christianity,"  which  he  would  like  to  give;  so  I 
stepped  out  in  a  letter,  and  frankly  hinted  at  "  The  Rider 
on  the  White  Horse."  Silence  has  followed.  My  second 
string  is  to  suggest  his  finishing  "  The  Triumph  of  Love  " 
for  us. 

Another  gift  was  of  a  very  different  kind.  A  certain 
man  offered  a  set  of  altar-vessels  in  gold,  very  beautiful 

*  The  companion  picture,  "  Watchman,  What  of  the  Night  ?  "  was 
given  by  Mrs.  Watts,  after  her  husband's  death.  The  third  picture  in 
the  Cathedral,  Mr.  Holman  Hunt's  "  Light  of  the  World,"  was  given  by 
the  Rt.  Hon.  Charles  Booth. 


ST.   PAUL'S  149 

and  costly :  they  were  accepted  by  two  members  of  the 
Chapter,  in  the  absence  of  other  members.  Later,  he  was 
in  pubHc  disgrace.  "  We  never  knew  his  name  even, 
when  we  accepted  his  wretched  gold.  I  learned  his  name 
from  the  papers — and  all  his  doings.  It  is  very  difficult 
to  return  a  gift."  So  Holland  "redeemed"  it,  either 
entirely  at  his  own  expense,  or  perhaps  with  the  help  of 
friends.  * 

In  Jan.  1892,  there  is  a  letter  from  Mr.  Alfred  Gilbert, 
promising  to  design  the  great  bronze  candelabra  which 
now  are  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave  :  "I  feel  most  deeply 
grateful,  and  highly  honoured,  by  the  invitation  given  to 
me  today  by  yourself  and  the  Dean.  Such  an  opportunity 
means  more  to  me  than  you  possibly  can  imagine.  I  have 
yearned  for  it :  it  has  come  unbidden.  Now,  if  I  can 
but  deserve  it,  I  shall  have  accomplished  one  of  the  most 
important  of  all  the  tasks  I  have  set  myself,  and  have 
dreamed  of,  ever  since  I  was  able  to  dream  Ambition's 
dream." 

Two  fugitive  little  stories  are  told  by  Minor  Canon 
Gilbertson.  (i)  At  a  Christmas  gathering  of  Old  Boys 
at  the  Choir  School,  there  was  one  who  had  recently  been 
ordained,  and  appeared  looking  unusually  grave  in  his  new 
clothes  and  wearing  spectacles  with  large  round  glasses. 
Holland,  when  he  met  him,  said  quite  solemnly,  "  My  dear 

,  can  anyone  be  as  wise  as  you  look  ?  "     (2)  Another 

Christmas,  at  the  Choir  School,  after  a  supper  to  the  work- 

*  "  The  name  has  been  erased  from  the  golden  chalices,  which  have 
utterly  ceased  to  be  in  any  sense  a  gift  of  his.  A  member  of  the  Chapter 
has  been  enabled  to  return  the  original  sum  paid :  and  his  trustee  has 
accepted  it  back.  No  legal  claim  was  raised,  or  even  suggested.  The 
transaction  was  entirely  voluntary,  and  private.  So  the  ignominy  which 
hung  over  the  Cathedral  is  removed  ;  and  the  unhappy  affair  is  completely 
closed.  The  vessels  can  now  be  used  for  the  service  of  the  altar,  from  which 
they  have  been  barred  ever  since  the  discredit  of  their  origin  was  discovered.'' 
— Commonwealth,  Jan.  1899. 


I50  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

men  of  the  Cathedral,  one  of  the  Canons  addressed  them 
on  the  necessity  for  punctuahty,  industry,  and  so  forth  : 
they  soon  became  restless,  and  showed  that  they  thought 
themselves  inveigled  to  the  party  under  false  pretences. 
Then  Holland  spoke,  on  the  extraordinary  delusions  pre- 
vailing at  St.  Paul's.  "  We  Canons  imagine  people  come 
to  hear  us  preach.  The  Choir  suppose  the  music  to  be  the 
great  attraction.  Whereas  the  real  fact  is,  that  we  couldn't 
carry-on  at  all,  but  for  the  constant  preparation  and  readi- 
ness secured  by  the  workmen."  He  soon  restored  the 
proper  Christmas-party  feeling. 

Also  it  is  remembered,  that  when  the  clergy  of  the 
Cathedral  first  appeared  in  splendid  vestments,  he  called 
them  "  glorified  armadilloes."  When  some  part  of  the 
building  was  found  insecure,  he  declared  that  Canon  Gregory 
had  put  bits  of  stamp-paper  over  the  cracks,  and  would 
see  it  in  a  moment,  if  they  got  worse.  In  Goodwill,  there 
is  a  light-hearted  article,  "St.  Paul's  in  September,"  on 
the  crowds  of  excursionists  up  from  the  country  to  see  the 
Cathedral,  bringing  the  sound  and  the  scent  of  the  country 
with  them  :  he  imagines  the  country  parson's  wife,  at  the 
head  of  a  party,  telling  them  that  the  monument  to  Bishop 
Middleton — the  Bishop  is  blessing  two  Indians,  a  man  and 
a  woman — represents  the  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve  : 
"  But  it  is  not  true  (and  I  seize  this  opportunity  of  denying 
it)  that  in  September  a  cow  did,  even  by  mistake,  push 
its  way  in  at  the  west  door,  and  take  a  seat  in  the  arch- 
deacon's stall,  while  the  vergers  looked  on  appalled,  until 
it  rose  and  followed  old  Green,  silver  poker  and  all,  to  the 
minor  canons'  vestry,  under  the  dim  impression  that  it  was 
milking-time." 

Like  other  men  who  are  much  talked  of,  he  was  exposed 
to  calumny :  he  was  not  on  his  guard  against  it :  and  his 
free  and  easy  friendliness  with  the  choir-boys,  and  their 


ST.   PAUL'S  151 

worship  of  him,  led  once  to  a  vile  insinuation :   which  was 
completely  withdrawn,  and  never  repeated. 

His  love  of  St.  Paul's  resolves  itself,  again  and  again, 
into  his  iove  of  the  dome.  That  is  the  way  with  Londoners. 
Any  amount  of  spires  may  "  point  to  Heaven,"  so  long  as 
one  stays  outside  the  buildings  which  have  them  :  but  the 
dome  of  St.  Paul's  is  equally  delightful  from  the  outside 
and  from  the  inside.  There  is  a  song  that  he  wrote,  in 
1892,  for  the  Choir  School  Magazine  : — 

The  Song  of  Paule's  Children 

I 

Though  far  away  we  scatter 
In  years  that  are  to  come, 
And  tread  the  land  of  strangers. 
Across  the  ocean  foam ; 
Yet  still  our  hearts  will  travel 
Back  to  their  ancient  home, 
And  sing  the  songs  of  childhood 
Beneath  the  big  blue  Dome. 
Home  again  !     Home  again  ! 
Beneath  the  big  blue  Dome  again  ! 
Ah,  would  we  ne'er  might  roam  again. 
But  sing  the  songs  of  home  again. 
Under  the  blessed  Dome. 

II 

That  is  the  egg  that  hatched  us, 
Hung  up  there  in  the  sky  ; 
We  were  the  happy  White-birds 
Baked  in  the  big  blue  Pie. 
We  hummed  away  and  buzzed  there, 
Like  bees  in  a  blue  hive. 
And  honey  we  shall  find  there 
As  long  as  we  shall  live. 
And  oh,  to  be  at  Home  again. 
Beneath  the  blessed  Dome  again. 
And  suck  the  honeycomb  again. 
And  buzz  and  hum  at  home  again. 
Under  the  big  blue  Dome, 


152  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

III 

They  sing  their  "  Dulce  Domum  " 

At  a  younger  school  than  ours, 

Where  clear  and  white  the  chalk-streams 

Run  fast  by  Wykeham's  towers  ; 

But  we  too  in  black  London 

Sing  a  chorus  of  our  own, 

Of  Domum,  Dulce  Domum, 

And  Dome  and  Home  in  one. 

So  Dome  again  and  Home  again, 

Our  Dulce  Dulce  Dome  again  ! 

The  Dome  that  is  our  own  again, 

Our  very  very  own  again  : 

Oh,  sweet  to  feel  at  home  again. 

And  in  and  out  to  roam  again, 

About  the  dear  old  Dome. 

IV 

We  sit  on  stuffy  stools  now. 

And  grind  at  office  sums  : 

But  still  around  the  old  Dome, 

The  noise  of  London  hums  : 

And  other  chicks  are  hatched  there, 

And  sing,  so  fair  and  fine. 

The  songs  that  once  we  sang  there 

In  days  of  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

And  oh,  that  we  were  home  again, 

Beneath  the  blessed  Dome  again, 

And  never  more  might  roam  again, 

But  each  might  have  his  own  again. 

And  find  his  happy  home  again. 

Home  again  !     Home  again  ! 

Under  the  big  blue  Dome. 

"  Just  at  Easter,"  he  writes  to  Mr.  George  Russell — "  I 
feel  the  heart  of  St.  Paul's  beating — all  the  rush  and  flow 
and  glory  of  the  choir :  and  the  trumpet-stops  :  and  the 
shout  we  give  on  '  Now  above  the  sky  He's  KING.'  There's 
nothing  like  it  in  all  the  world.    And  the  great  church  is 


ST.   PAUL'S  153 

flooded  with  people  all  day  long :  and  we  never  stop : 
and  there  is  all  one  splendour." 

He  had  not  much  time  away  from  St.  Paul's.  He 
regularly  attended  the  three  daily  services.  Lord  Kilbracken 
tells  of  him  coming  back  to  Amen  Court  in  full  canonicals 
after  an  interminable  service  on  Ascension  Day,  throwing 
off  his  surplice,  dropping  on  the  sofa,  and  exclaiming  with 
a  deep  sigh,  "I've  been  in  church  ever  since  I  can  remember." 
Days  of  national  observance  brought  heavy  work :  "I 
am  too  run  to  write ;  these  King's  visits  are  appalling : 
we  are  wrecks."  Besides,  he  had  to  do  with  innumerable 
affairs  of  administration,  finance,  preferment,  and  so  forth. 

Admirable  studies  were  published,  after  his  death, 
in'  Commonwealth  :  one  by  Miss  Eleanor  Gregory,  "At  St. 
Paul's,"  the  other  by  Mr.  Walter  de  la  Mare,  "  From  the 
Choir-boy's  point  of  view."  *  But  something  more  may  be 
said  here  of  his  preaching.  The  Canons  preach  at  the 
Sunday  afternoon  services.  Clergy  not  attached  to  St. 
Paul's  preach  at  the  Sunday  evening  services :  in  his 
letters  to  them,  Holland  would  sometimes  make  light  of 
the  task  set  before  them  :  a  man  might  well  be  anxious 
at  the  prospect  of  it.  "  Would  you  like,"  he  writes  to  one, 
"  to  preach  in  St.  Paul's  one  evening  in  May  at  7  o'clock  ? 
To  a  guileless  mass  of  clerks  and  sweethearts  holding  each 
others'  hands  and  glad  to  use  common  hymn-books.  The 
people  of  St.  Paul's  are  not  purse-proud  City  gents  who 
sit  on  rich  farms  dealing  largely  in  horseflesh  :  they  are 
all  humble  folk  who  would  take  the  message  from  you." 
And  to  another,  "  You  know  our  congregation,  faintly 
endeavouring  to  apprehend  what  on  earth  the  preachers 

•  Henry  Scott  Holland  :  Some  Appreciations.  Edited  by  Christopher 
Cheshire.  London,  Wells  Gardner,  1919.  Pp.  88.  A  set  of  short  articles, 
in  Commonwealth,  by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  Miss  Gregory,  Mr.  Walter 
de  la  Mare,  the  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  the  Bishop  of  Oxford,  Canon 
Donaldson,  Rev.  E.  K.  Talbot,  Canon  Richmond,  and  Mr.  George  Russell. 


154  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

are  talking  about,  and  hoping  to  get  hold  of  about  one  idea 
and  a  half  some  day  before  they  die."  And  again,  "  I 
always  think  it  is  a  nice  quiet  pulpit,  rather  home-like 
when  you  are  up  there." 

The  recovery  of  the  whole  Cathedral  from  end  to  end 
had  brought  the  necessity  for  great  preaching.  The  sermons 
must  be  heard,  as  it  were  in  the  open  air,  across  all  the 
space  under  the  dome ;  they  must  be  well  designed  and 
well  proportioned.  Like  the  drinking-vessels  in  Solomon's 
Temple — "  all  were  of  gold,  none  were  of  silver ;  it  was  not 
anything  accounted-of  in  the  days  of  Solomon  " — so  it 
was  to  be  with  the  great  sermons  at  St.  Paul's.  Hard  work 
for  the  great  preachers :  it  left  them  played-out.  Dr.  Liddon 
was  accustomed  to  take  a  warm  bath  and  go  to  bed  after  it : 
Holland  was  younger  and  stronger,  but  he  too  felt  the  strain 
of  it :  he  used  to  come,  at  the  end  of  the  procession  out  of 
the  choir,  with  his  head  down,  and  a  heavy  set  look  in  his 
face,  impatient  of  the  slow  movement  in  front  of  him,  vexed 
by  the  affectionate  or  inquisitive  glances  which  pursued 
him,  and  longing  to  get  back  to  Amen  Court  and  rest  there. 
Nature  had  never  intended  him  to  walk  in  a  procession. 
Miss  Murray  remembers  him  saying,  "  I  did  once  dodge 
a  poker,  when  I  was  at  Christ  Church,  going  into  Cathedral : 
I  suddenly  remembered  that  I  was  entitled  as  Censor  to 
a  stall  at  the  West  end  :  so  I  slipped  in  there,  and  the 
verger  walked  on  to  the  other  end  with  no  one  behind 
him." 

From  1884  to  1890,  Londoners  could  study,  in  the  one 
setting  of  St.  Paul's,  the  preaching  of  Church,  Liddon, 
and  Holland.  The  Dean  did  not  preach  often.  Londoners 
went  not  only  to  hear  him,  but  to  be  able  to  say  that  they 
had  seen  and  heard  him.  To  look  at,  he  was  so  thin  and 
spiritual,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  sounding-board  over  the 
big  pulpit  had  been  put  there  to  hold  him  down  to  earth. 


ST.   PAUL'S  155 

His  sermons  were  faultlessly  worded,  a  perfect  example 
to  all  men  how  to  honour  the  beauty  of  our  language  :  and 
he  preached  them  with  impenetrable  quietness,  restraining 
himself  almost  to  the  point  of  effacing  himself.  Thus  it 
was  not  easy  to  realise,  from  his  preaching,  the  strength  and 
authority  of  his  life's  work.  In  all  London,  he  was  the 
man  whom  Holland  most  loved  and  reverenced ;  the  one 
man  whose  displeasure  would  have  been  downright  intoler- 
able to  him.* 

Among  those  who  had  no  personal  knowledge  either  of 
Liddon  or  of  Holland,  the  majority  preferred  Liddon. 
He  was  older,  and  quieter ;  he  was  easier  to  follow ;  he 
was  more  captivating  to  look  at.  Of  all  who  have  ever 
preached  from  that  big  pulpit,  he  was  perhaps  the  most 
skilful  in  the  use  of  gesture  :  every  inch  of  him  was  eloquent, 
by  natural,  unaffected  gracefulness.  And  the  music  of 
his  voice  was  delightful.  Yet  an  old  Londoner,  who  had 
the  honour  of  knowing  Liddon  and  Holland  personally, 
sticks  to  it,  that  Holland  was  the  better  preacher.  He 
remembers  the  sound  of  Liddon's  voice  over  two  words  : 


*  His  book.  "  On  Behalf  of  Belief,"  is  dedicated  to  Dean  Church— 
"  whose  name  has  ever  been  a  succour  and  a  joy,  and  whom  now  it  is  my 
high  and  happy  privilege  to  know,  to  serve,  and  to  love."  Many  years 
later,  in  191 2,  he  wrote  of  him :  "In  my  time  he  was  already  a  little  bit 
in  retreat,  and  indeed  had  to  take  a  good  deal  of  care.  .  .  .  His  judgment 
was  always  there  to  be  consulted,  and  anything  like  a  veto  from  him  would 
have  been  quite  decisive.  He  could  be  very  firm  indeed,  as  you  probably 
know,  and  there  was  a  drawing  up  of  the  mouth,  and  a  throw  back  of  the 
head,  when  he  disapproved,  which  would  have  finished  most  men.  He 
was  there  as  a  permanent,  acute,  and  venerated  conscience,  which  every- 
body had  to  face,  and  a  word  or  two  from  him  went  very  far,  whether  in 
forwarding  or  damning  a  suggestion.  The  Cathedral  staff  were  distinctly 
alarmed  at  him,  and  they  did  not  quite  understand  his  dehcate  Tractarian 
reserve,  while  they  were  very  much  afraid  indeed  of  his  severity,  when  any- 
thing had  to  be  punished,  I  was  a  little  surprised  that  they  had  not  felt 
more  of  the  beauty  of  the  character,  but  it  is  well  in  all  records  of  Church 
to  remember  how  austere  and  alarming  he  could  be,  for  all  his  gentleness." 
This  letter  was  to  Canon  Alexander,  who  was  giving  a  course  of  lectures 
in  the  Cathedral  on  the  Deans  of  St.  Paul's. 


156  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

the  one  of  them  was  "  sacerdotalism,"  and  the  other  was 
"  Schopenhauer."  And  he  remembers  the  sound  of  Holland's 
voice,  in  1873,  when  he  was  only  a  deacon,  preaching  his 
very  first  sermon  in  St.  Paul's :  he  was  talking  about 
the  Holy  Innocents,  and  he  called  them  "  these  poor  babies." 
There  is  more  than  chance,  in  the  survival  of  the  isolated 
words  :  they  stand  for  differences  of  temperament. 

Holland  used  to  go  up  quickly  into  the  big  pulpit, 
set  his  Bible  and  his  manuscript  ready  with  a  quick  touch, 
and  vanish  into  the  depths  of  the  pulpit  for  his  devotions  : 
then  came  the  magical  sound  of  his  "  Let  us  pray."  Voice 
for  voice,  he  surpassed  even  Liddon.  St.  Paul's  is  a  grand 
place  for  echoes,  and  he  was  not  afraid  of  them :  his  voice 
had  moments  of  slashing  vehemence,  undescribable  and 
inimitable  :  but  he  seldom  over-strained  it,  and  he  never 
seemed  to  be  using-up  the  reserve  of  its  force  :  neither 
did  he  habitually  shout,  though  he  would  now  and  again 
give  out  some  essential  word  or  name  with  a  cry  that  went 
up  into  the  dome  and  halfway  down  the  nave. 

In  gesture,  he  was  swift  and  impulsive,  not  clumsy  or 
purposeless  :  it  was  not  for  nothing  that  he  had  been  a  good  • 
athlete.  Men  preaching  for  the  first  time  in  St.  Paul's 
are  likely  to  be  warned  to  direct  their  voices  toward  the 
statue  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  :  but  Holland,  with  admirable 
effect,  swinging  now  this  way  now  that,  brought  all  of  us 
together.  His  movements  were  as  natural,  as  apt  to  his 
preaching,  as  the  swaying  of  a  tree  in  a  high  wind  :  it  would 
have  looked  grotesque,  if  he  had  stood  still,  while  the  rush 
and  fire  of  his  voice  were  tearing  round  all  the  space  under 
the  dome.  He  kept  us  too  busy  with  his  thoughts  to  care 
what  he  was  doing  with  his  hands  :  but  it  is  certain  that 
he  was  not  unmindful  of  the  rule,  "  Do  not  saw  the  air 
too  much  with  your  hand,  but  use  all  gently,  for  in  the 
very  torrent,  tempest,  and  whirlwind  of  passion,  you  must 


ST.   PAUL'S  157 

acquire  and  beget  a  temperance  that  may  give  it  smooth- 
ness." 

He  found  enjoyment  in  preaching :  as  he  says  of  Hoxton, 
in  1874,  "  Sermons  I  hked  as  much  as  ever,  especially  my 
Good  Friday  one  "  ;  and  in  1898,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
later,  "  I  was  a  limp  wreck  until  I  got  into  a  pulpit  again  : 
and  then  I  at  once  recovered."  It  goes  without  saying, 
that  he  hated  to  be  "  run  after."  He  was  in  demand 
here,  there,  and  everywhere :  he  might  well  forget  an 
engagement :  he  did,  once,  go  off  to  a  suburban  station, 
and  forget  the  name  of  the  church,  and  follow  all  the  bells 
that  were  ringing,  and  fail  to  discover  where  he  was  expected  : 
but  that  is  the  only  instance  on  record.  The  earliest 
reference  to  his  preaching  is  in  a  letter  from  his  cousin, 
Thurstan  Holland,  Jan.  1873 :  "  I  heard  Scott  preach, 
for  the  first  time  yesterday.  He  gave  us  a  very  remarkable 
sermon,  full  of  thought  and  depth  of  feeling,  and  with  an 
originality  about  it  that  delighted  me:  his  language  and 
power  of  expression  left  nothing  to  be  desired :  his  dehvery 
is  at  present  too  rapid,  the  more  so  because  his  sentences  are 
often  full  of  a  conception  of  ideas,  which  the  hearer  wishes 
to  work  out,  before  he  is  led  on  to  others."  Mrs.  Arthur 
Acland  remembers  a  talk,  at  Newquay,  in  1874,  on  preaching  : 
she  upheld  simplicity  of  treatment,  and  said  that  the  aspects 
of  a  subject  ought  to  be  presented  one  at  a  time:  "Scott 
Holland  flashed  out  with  '  It  is  only  by  a  nice  adjustment  of 
epithets  that  any  estimate  of  truth  or  any  complete  idea  can 
be  obtained ' :  on  which  ensued  much  laughter,  and  a  defence 
by  him  of  his  own  method." 

His  sermons,  of  course,  "  read  well  "  :  but  they  who  never 
heard  him  cannot  realise  the  magnificence  of  them.  Take, 
for  example,  his  way  of  using  and  or  but  or  only,  at  the 
beginning  of  a  new  line  of  thought :  the  word,  in  print, 
is  nothing  :    but  when  he  spoke  it,  he  could  make  it  as 


158  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

effective  as  the  knocking  at  the  door  in  Macbeth.  Or 
his  power  of  visiiaHsing  the  workings-out  of  natural  forces, 
and  the  development  of  mankind ;  his  imaginative  sense 
of  whole  nations  and  populations  labouring  and  shifting 
and  passing.  Or  his  way  of  putting  the  case  against  him- 
self, stating  it  better  than  it  had  ever  been  stated,  making 
it  look  more  true  and  more  attractive  than  it  had  ever 
looked — as  Philip  Waggett  said,  "  Holland's  men  of  straw 
are  more  formidable  than  other  folk's  men-at-arms  " — 
then  would  come  But  or  Only,  or  Yes,  but,  or  Just  because 
or  And  yet ;  and  all  the  cloud-capped  towers  and  gorgeous 
palaces  would  begin  to  dissolve.  Or  his  way  of  describing 
the  unhappiness,  injustice,  and  unrest  in  our  national 
life.  There  is  a  great  collection  of  letters  to  him,  thanking 
him  for  this  or  that  sermon  in  St.  Paul's  or  elsewhere. 
One  instance  especially  pleased  him  :  a  man  who  had 
gone  under,  and  had  made  up  his  mind  to  jump  off  London 
Bridge,  turned  into  St.  Paul's  on  his  way  to  the  river  ; 
listened  to  Holland,  set  himself  once  more  to  find  work, 
and  found  it  and  did  well. 

After  he  had  left  St.  Paul's  he  was  rather  unwilling  to 
preach  again  there  :  but  his  love  of  the  place  and  of  its 
services  never  failed  him.  There  are  letters  to  Canon 
Alexander  :  one,  in  1909,  on  his  appointment  to  his  Canonry  : 
"  You  know  how  warm  and  cordial  a  welcome  you  will 
find  here.  It  is  a  deep  relief  to  me  to  have  a  friend  who 
comes  into  the  little  brotherhood.  I  do  not  think  that 
you  will  find  anything  in  our  tradition  which  will  not 
commend  itself  to  you  as  a  sincere  effort  to  make  St.  Paul's 
the  central  home  of  England's  worship.  May  God  help 
us  to  hold  together  and  to  work  for  the  one  cause,  the 
honour  of  Jesus  Christ."  In  1913,  from  Oxford,  he  writes 
of  the  re-gilding  of  the  cross,  "  I  hear  that  necks  are  positively 
broken  on  omnibuses  in  efforts  to  keep  gazing  at  it ;   and 


ST.  PAUL'S  -  159 

Burge  told  me  how  he  saw  it  blazing  away  from  Brockwell 
Park."  Another  letter  is  concerned  with  something  that 
had  been  said  in  St.  Paul's  :  "  You  must  keep  the  Dome 
still  Christian  with  a  living  message  to  the  people,  in  spite 
of  these  disastrous  utterances."  Last  of  all,  on  Jan.  2, 
1918  :  "  I  was  so  glad  to  hear  from  you  and  of  you.  You 
have  had  a  deadly  time  to  pass  through.  I  cannot  imagine 
a  worse  strain.  These  ghastly  raids  touch  the  limits  of 
which  cruelty  is  possible.  Horrible  :  and  so  relentless,  so 
untiring.  By  God's  great  mercy,  the  Dome  is  still  lifted 
to  bless  London." 


II 

FROM   1885   TO   1889 

Early  in  1885,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Talbot,  on  the  prospect 
of  Dr.  Liddon's  appointment  to  a  Bishopric  : — 

What  I  feel  so  forcibly  is,  that  the  opposition  to  Liddon 
comes  not  from  questions  as  to  his  particular  qualifications, 
but  from  a  deliberate  determination  that  he  is  not  a  man 
whom  the  Church  of  England  can  afford  to  promote.  This 
is  what  stings.  It  is  a  challenge  of  the  whole  High  Church 
position.  It  is  a  relapse  into  the  condition  of  things  when 
we  were  all  rebels.  We  were  just  learning  to  forget  the 
bitterness  of  that  unhappy  time.  We  thought  that  the 
reconciliation  meant  that  the  High  Churchmen  had  won 
their  right  to  be  considered  loyal  members  of  the  Church. 
It  was  this  thought  that  made  the  general  reconciliation 
so  large,  and  hearty,  and  effectual.  But  then  this  must 
cover  Liddon's  general  position  and  attitude.  He  is  an 
Anglican  of  Anglicans  :  a  very  sample  of  the  class.  .  .  . 
We  feel  the  perils  of  Liddon.  We  cannot  profess  that  we 
do  not  think  his  line  to  be  hard  to  foresee.  We  do  not 
expect  to  be  able  to  justify  all  he  will  do.  But  we  do  hold 
most  emphatically  that  it  would  be  a  blunder,  a  wrong, 
and  a  disaster,  for  the  Church  to  treat  Liddon  as  a  doubtful 
and  excluded  character,  who  is  not  at  home  in  her  body, 
and  whom  it  would  be  too  risky  to  allow  to  come  forward 
into  his  natural  place. 

In  the  summer,  he  was  with  friends  in  Switzerland : 
but  he  was  not  up  to  climbing,  nor  did  he  care  for  "  the 
weird,  sad  gletschers."  He  amused  himself  with  the  hotel- 
life  at  Bel  Alp — "  no  mountaineers,  but  excellent  people 

160 


FROM  1885  TO  1889  161 

who  go  to  daily  matins  at  8,  and  discover  strange  flowers, 
and  take  out  lunch  with  them,  and  do  the  pension  at  10 
frcs.  :  old  Tyndall  presides  daily :  and  we  all  chatter, 
and  make  great  friends,  and  of  course  everybody  finds  that 
he  knows  everybody  else's  grandmother  " — and  he  delighted 
in  Vevey,  "  the  loveliest  view,  by  far,  in  the  world :  the  Dent 
du  Midi  just  clearing  from  soft  summer  cloud,  faint  and 
purple  like  a  dream  :  the  Lake  a  wide  evening  blue,  with 
sheets  of  sunset  white  and  pink  :  all  the  hills  one  blue 
haze,  uniform  from  very  satisfaction  with  the  perfect  day 
that  has  gone.  And  ah  !  I  have  bathed — twice  bathed 
— and  the  lines  of  the  old  hills  all  grow  out  upon  me  like 
memories,  like  friends  :  I  know  them  all,  a  thousand  times 
over.  It  is  too  beautiful :  it  demoralises."  He  writes 
to  Dr.  Talbot,  of  a  visit  to  the  St.  Bernard  Hospice  : — 

A  most  noble  High  Mass  that  we  came  in  for  at  the 
Grand  St.  Bernard.  It  was  a  high  day,  a  reunion  of  all 
the  brotherhood,  and  the  Prior  came  in  state  :  and  it  was 
a  stately  and  pure  office  :  and  one  felt  the  force  of  the  strong 
life  behind  it,  in  the  snows  and  the  solitudes  :  and  it  was 
most  impressive  to  send  up  the  great  Christian  song,  robust 
and  dignified,  there  amid  the  wet  mists  and  wild  wastes  ; 
and  my  heart  went  out  above  aU  for  you,  and  for  my  brother 
restored  to  us  out  of  such  peril — "  Blessing  and  honour 
and  glory  and  power  be  unto  Him." 

In  Jan.  1886,  at  Torquay,  he  made  friends  with  Mr. 
W.  E.  Forster  and  his  adopted  daughter.  Miss  Arnold- 
Forster.  She  writes,  "  He  became  a  most  welcome  visitor 
in  my  father's  sick-room,  skilfully  drawing  him  out  to 
talk  of  old  days,  of  his  early  Yorkshire  experiences  in  the 
Chartist  times,  and  of  his  friendship  with  Thomas  Cooper, 
the  Chartist  poet.  His  own  health  was  at  this  time  very 
uncertain :  he  was  suffering  from  constant  and  over- 
mastering headaches  that  obliged  him  while  they  lasted 
to  remain  a  prisoner  in  darkness.     I  never  at  any  time 

M 


i62  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

heard  him  speak  voluntarily  of  himself :  but  he  never 
rejected  sympathy  concerning  what  he  would  call  '  my 
silly  old  head  '  :  and  at  a  later  time  he  would  say  that  he 
thought  he  was  learning  to  '  manage  himself  better.'  " 

In  February,  he  and  his  elder  sister  went  to  Athens  : 
and  from  Athens  he  went  with  Mrs,  Meynell  and  her  brother 
F.  G.  L.  Wood  on  a  yachting-cruise  among  the  -^gean 
Islands  ;  and  was  for  three  days  at  Patmos,  and  visited 
Smyrna.* 

To  R.  L.  NeUleship^ 

Bless  you,  dear  old  Nettle,  bless  you  again  and  again 
for  the  touch  of  old  days  and  delicious  memories,  in  your 
letter  from  Snowdon.  I  can't  say  what  a  deep  joy  it  was 
to  me.  How  we  used  to  love  to  record  mere  sights  and 
sounds  !  That  is  the  time  when  friendships  are  making 
that  last  deep  as  life.  They  never  cease,  though  active 
intercourse  may  drop.  Always  they  hve  on,  and  any 
touch  revives  them.  They  are  like  walking,  skating, 
swimming.  Once  we  have  found  the  balance,  the  poise, 
it  is  found  for  ever.     It  needs  no  use  or  practice  to  sustain 

*  See  his  letters  to  Mrs.  Drew,  in  "  A  Forty  Years'  Friendship."  Many- 
years  later;  in  Commonwealth,  April,  1902,  there  is  a  most  unexpected 
reference  to  Patmos.  He  is  writing  of  the  Government  inspection  of 
laundries  under  religious  sisterhoods.  He  says  that  the  Superiors  will 
be  able  to  hold  their  own  against  the  Government :  "  They  have  only 
got  to  welcome-in  the  Inspector  and  the  Home  Secretary,  and  they  will 
capture  them  as  their  hopeless  slaves  :  they  will  tie  them  to  their  apron- 
strings.  Let  me  recall,  in  hopes  of  this  result,  my  delight  at  a  certain 
scene  in  Patmos  which  might  have  its  prophetic  lesson.  The  two  great 
Abbots  of  the  Monastery,  who  hold  all  the  island  in  fee,  and  whom  the 
people  ardently  venerated,  came  aboard  our  yacht  to  tea.  In  their  train, 
we  detected  an  obscure  little  creature  in  a  fez,  who  crept  about  in  the  rear, 
and  seemed  only  anxious  to  He  low.  We  pohtely  asked  who  he  was. 
'  Oh,  you  need  not  notice  him,'  impUed  the  Abbots  by  a  grand  wave  of 
the  hand.  '  He  is  only  the  Turkish  Governor  of  the  Island.'  Why  should 
not  the  Superiors  reduce  the  Home  Secretary  to  the  same  wholesome 
humility  ?  " 

f  This  is  the  only  letter  from  Holland  to  Nettleship  which  remains. 
Holland's  early  letters  were  burned  by  Nettleship  in  1872.  Their  letters 
after  1872  were  mostly  on  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the  University  ;  the 
class-lists,  and  so  forth. 


FROM  1885  TO  1889  163 

it.  In  a  moment,  as  I  read,  I  was  with  you,  as  of  old. 
I  knew  the  old  tingle  ;  I  responded  with  the  old  delight. 
Days  and  hours  all  came  floating  back — and  your  voice  : 
and  the  toss  of  your  head.  It  will  be  ever  so  :  do  not 
doubt  it. 

I  shall  be  leaving  Oxford,  I  dimly  foresee.  We  may 
see  each  other  even  less  :  though  I  trust  not.  But  no 
years  will  ever  stiffen  or  deaden  the  turn  of  my  heart  to 
you — and  any  word  from  you  wiU  "  draw  blood,"  as  of 
old.  Goodbye.  I  sail  tomorrow — ^my  boat  is  on  the  shore  : 
meaning,  by  that,  the  Dover  Packet.  I  make  through 
Italy  to  Athens.  Perhaps,  then,  a  yacht  to  Athos. 
Certainly  Athens,  for  a  stay.  Goodbye.  God  bless  you, 
dear  friend,  with  heart,  and  courage,  and  hope. 


To  Dr.  Talbot 

Brindisi.  Feb. — We  ought  to  be  at  Corfu  tomorrow, 
and  at  Athens  by  Sunday  evening.  That  sounds  wonderful 
— ^Athens — and  ever  since  Rome  I  have  been  in  pause, 
waiting  for  some  name  that  could  evoke  an  interest,  after 
Rome.  Human  interests  are  all  in  aU.  Beauty  is  only 
intended  to  be  around  and  about  them,  ennobling,  making 
memorable,  hallowing.  But  ^vithout  a  core  of  human 
interest  to  vivify  it,  beauty  is  a  poor  superficial  affair. 
So  no  Salerno  Bay,  or  Sorrento  hills,  can  compensate  for 
the  loss  of  Rome  :  and  I  wait  for  Athens  to  recover  me 
from  the  collapse  that  has  overtaken  me  ever  since  I  saw, 
amid  crowded  priests,  outside  the  door  of  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
the  old  man  pass  in,  in  gold  and  glory,  carried  on  his  throne, 
bearing  his  tiara,  on  the  day  of  his  coronation.  A  beautiful 
old  man,  skilful,  cultured,  clean,  devout —worthy  of  the 
centuries  behind  him,  and  of  the  surpassing  burden  laid 
upon  him.  And,  in  the  crowd,  pressing  through  into  the 
Chapel,  the  quiet  good  face  of  Lyle — in  the  dress  of  a 
Seminarist.  Two  or  three  times  I  caught  sight  of  him — 
the  same  look,  repressive  and  noble,  with  a  stiffness.  Good 
faces  abounded,  I  think,  among  Cardinals,  Canons,  Priests. 
A  really  fine  band  of  men,  old,  intelligent,  holy — I  should 
doubt  whether  we  could  do  better  in  the  way  of  heads. 

Athens.  Holy  Thursday. — You  ought  just  to  see  the 
divine  glory  of    light  and  sun    that  is  pouring  over    the 


i64  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Parthenon,  now  as  I  see  it,  from  my  bed-room  window, 
with  the  most  perfect  air  ever  breathed  curHng  round  its 
yellow  splendour.  It  is  delicious.  Yet  it  knows  nothing 
whatever  of  disturbances,  and  trouble,  and  sin  :  it  has  no 
thought  at  all  of  Passion,  Agony,  Burial — of  Redemption, 
Deliverance,  Resurrection :  it  looks  singularly  remote 
from  the  Easter  we  are  keeping  at  its  feet. 

...  I  find  it  impossible  to  doubt  but  that  the  time  has 
come  for  me  to  leave  Oxford.  There  !  I  have  said  it. 
If  it  was  not  for  you,  I  could  say  it  without  a  quiver  of  doubt, 
though  with  most  heart-wringing  sorrow.  It  has  grown 
steadily  in  upon  me  for  months.  It  seems  to  me  obvious, 
and  undeniable.  I  am,  practically,  useless  in  London 
unless  I  can  be  there  in  the  autumn  months — from  Oct. 
to  Xmas.  These  once  missed,  the  year  is  lost.  Yet  these 
are  my  only  real  months  in  Oxford. 

As  a  rest,  I  see  Oxford  is  useless.  Even  with  all  positive 
duties  gone,  it  remains  the  same  hurrying,  incessant,  wearing 
place.  Nothing  can  avoid  this.  I  am  arbitrarily,  and 
forcibly,  inventing  for  myself  a  place  in  Oxford.  I  am  not 
placed  there  by  anything  except  my  own  will.  This  makes 
it  all  doubtful  to  me  ;  when  I  see  how  little  I  am  making 
of  my  London  post,  to  which  I  have  been  externally  called. 
I  dare  not  say,  I  am  giving  the  Church  her  money's  worth, 
for  what  she  allots  me.  I  am  establishing  no  footing  in 
London  ;  I  am  doing  nothing  positive  :  I  am  building  no 
house  :  I  am  nothing  but  a  flying  sort  of  voice.  I  feel 
apologetic  for  myself  :  and  this  is  demoralising. 

I  am  sucking  too  much  of  the  good  things  of  life,  if 
I  retain  Oxford.  I  am  not  venturing  enough.  I  am 
clinging  to  the  nest  already  built,  where  everything  flatters, 
is  comfortable,  is  easy.  I  am  nursing  myself  along  on  what 
is  already  done.  I  am  not  putting  my  back  into  building 
up  a  new  work  of  any  kind.  It  won't  do.  I  am  sure  of 
it.  My  conscience  will  not  stand  it.  It  ought  to  be  done, 
now  in  October.  But  oh,  Warden,  the  wrench,  the  horrible 
wrench  ! 


1887-1888 

In  these  two  years,  three  books  of  his  sermons  were 
published  :  "  Creed  and  Character,"  "  Christ  or  Ecclesiastes," 


FROM  1885  TO  1889  165 

and  "  On  Behalf  of  Belief."  In  his  preface  to  "  Creed 
and  Character,"  he  says  that  every  Christian  preacher, 
of  necessity,  undertakes  the  responsibility  of  representing 
"the  mind  of  Christ."  That  is  what  ought  to  be  felt,  and 
recognised,  as  the  beginning  and  end  of  all  sermons  :  "  and 
this,  not  as  a  vague  commonplace,  but  as  a  Presence,  that 
growingly,  with  ever  more  masterful  pressure,  with  ever 
intenser  force,  pervades,  utilises,  covers,  vitalises,  absorbs 
the  entire  and  undivided  attention.  ...  It  is  the  expression 
of  a  single  personal  Self,  conveyed  into  us  by  a  vital  and 
personal  Spirit.  It  must  exhibit  itself  as  personal — that 
is,  as  a  living  individual  Being,  self-consistent  and  self- 
identical."  The  manifestation  of  this  personal  Will,  in 
action  upon  the  affairs  of  earth,  is  in  two  forms  :  in  mind, 
and  in  character :  in  the  two  forms  in  which  a  will  does, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  show  itself  in  action.  "  The  Kingdom 
of  Christ  is  the  manifestation  of  Christ's  sole  Will :  and  it 
must  embody  these  two  forms.  It  is  the  display,  on  earth, 
of  a  certain  body  of  motives  and  intentions,  peculiar  to 
Christ,  co-ordinated  into  a  certain  characteristic  combination, 
peculiar  to  Christ.  Where  do  we  find  the  first  of  these 
two  forms  ?  In  the  Creed  of  the  Church.  Where  the 
second  ?  In  the  ethical  ideal  of  the  Church :  in  the  Christian 
character."  And  he  says  of  this  character,  that  it  "  com- 
bines the  uttermost  of  self-abnegation  with  the  uttermost 
assertion  of  vigour  and  vitality." 

In  the  preface  to  "  Christ  or  Ecclesiastes,"  he  declares 
his  belief  in  "  the  supernatural  setting  of  the  Faith  "  ; 
and  says  that  "  the  supernatural,  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus, 
is  no  intellectual  encumbrance,  but  rather  the  very  key 
by  which  alone  life  is  rationalized,  and  the  spirit  in  us  set 
free  to  think,  and  work,  and  grow." 

In  July,  1887,  he  was  at  Ballaigues,  Vallorbes  ;  with  the 
Talbots,  Dr.  Gore,  the  Drews,  and  a  party  of  undergraduates : 


i66  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

"To  be  back  in  the  old  Oxford  ways,  to  be  talking  the  old 
talk,  to  be  caught  up  into  the  old  bright  easy  ways  of  under- 
grads,  to  feel  the  prick  of  familiar  interest  in  Schools  and 
Classes — this  was  delicious ;  and  to  bathe  again :  and  to 
catch  cricket-balls,  and  to  chaff,  and  to  jaw — this  is  what 
I  never  dreamed  of  recovering." 

In  October,  he  writes  to  a  critic  of  his  views  on  Ireland  : — 

I  am  very  sorry  if  I  have  at  all  wounded  a  lover  of  St. 
Paul's.  Pray  do  not  let  anything  I  say  or  do  lessen  your 
love.  But  I  am  only  saying  what  I  am  forced  to  think 
when  I  say  that  the  Government  have  set  themselves  to 
break  and  crush  the  two  great  popular  powers  which  have 
built  and  organised  the  National  League  :  and  those  powers 
are  (i)  the  entire  Parliamentary  representation  of  Catholic 
Ireland,  who  are  always  treated  as  a  hostile  body  of  hateful 
conspirators ;  (2)  the  Archbishops,  Bishops,  and  priests 
of  the  Church,  in  whose  buildings  the  League  meets,  from 
whose  altars  its  notices  are  given,  after  whose  services  its 
meetings  are  held,  whose  priests  are  its  local  chairmen 
in  every  village.  I  could  not  imagine  language  more 
calculated  to  madden  and  enrage  an  exasperated  people 
into  acts  of  violent  retaliation,  than  the  cruel,  bitter, 
scornful,  tyrannical  language  that  has  been  poured  out  by 
the  Times,  echoed  by  the  main  body  of  the  Press,  against 
everything  that  the  Irish  peasantry  hold  dear  as  their  lives. 
I  wonder  daily  at  their  self-control  under  such  brutal  and 
harsh  contempt.  It  fills  me  with  sorrow  and  shame  to 
read  it,  above  all  in  Church  papers.  Forgive  me  if  I  have 
spoken  strongly. 

In  March  1888,  he  writes  to  a  friend,  of  his  determina- 
tion to  remain  unmarried.  In  Sept.  1882,  on  the  news  of 
another  friend's  engagement,  he  had  written,  "  The  sudden 
sense  that  I  alone  of  all  my  friends  am  really  going  to  be 
wifeless,  is  borne  in  upon  me  with  unwonted  energy,  and 
makes  me  feel  strange,  and  wondering  ;  and  I  clench  my 
teeth  a  little,  and  feel  sterner  (but  not  less  resolute)."  In 
1888,  he  writes  : — 


FROM  1885  TO  1889  167 

I  know,  I  know,  the  offer  of  renunciation  which  God 
makes  to  me.  But  then,  how  Httle  I  have  picked  it  up  as 
a  single  act  to  be  hfted  before  the  Throne.  I  have  scraped 
it  up,  in  pitiful  fragments — little  wretched  pieces,  one  at 
a  time,  when  I  found  it  impossible  to  delay  any  longer, 
or  to  avoid  taking  the  bit  that  lay  there  in  front  of  me. 
And  what  I  hunger  after,  is  such  a  selfish,  poor,  small, 
comfortable,  caressing  sort  of  affection,  on  which  to  spend 
myself  in  pretty  fondlings.  This  I  weakly  desire  :  and  I 
have  to  learn  from  others  all  the  high  and  trumpet-tongued 
honour  which  is  the  real  soul  of  marriage  :  and  which  is 
so  real  a  loss,  unless  one  can  pitch  one's  devotion  to  Christ 
in  as  high  a  key.  God  bless  you  for  your  blessed  words. 
At  my  best,  and  now  and  again,  I  strive  to  make  the 
renunciation  a  willing  sacrifice  :  and  I  do  see  how  God  would 
gain  more  from  one,  in  some  ways,  through  it.  But  I 
am  always  minimising  the  sacrifice,  by  intense  enjoyment 
of  all  the  multitude  of  little  loves  which  are  given  me — 
and  I  am  apt  to  fritter  away,  in  their  enjoyment,  the  will 
that  should  go  to  the  greater  deed. 

In  May,  he  was  asked  to  let  himself  be  nominated 
for  the  Bishopric  of  Glasgow.  In  August,  when  it 
was  probable  that  the  Balliol  Theological  Fellowship 
would  soon  be  vacant,  he  was  asked  whether  he  would 
take  it. 

Toward  the  end  of  1888,  he  published  "  On  Behalf 
of  Belief."  Dr.  Gore  writes  to  him,  Nov.  21  :  "  Bless  you 
for  the  Belief  volume.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  I  thank  you, 
and  how  I  wish  the  wicked  would  read.  Ugh  !  they  are 
stupid.  I  begin  to  feel  my  vocation  wiU  be  to  write  notes 
to  your  books  in  order  to  make  them  look  dull.  I  some- 
times think  people  measure  the  seriousness  of  an  intellectual 
effort  by  the  dulness  of  its  appearance.  May  I  write  long 
notes  to  your  books,  and  appendices,  to  induce  the  stupid 
to  read  ■  and  leave  the  present  editions  for  those  who  have 
a  soul ?  " 

At  the  end  of  the  year,  he  writes  to  Mrs.  Talbot,  on  the 


i68  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

appointment   of  Dr.   Talbot   to   be  Vicar  of   Leeds,   after 
eighteen  years  at  Keble  as  its  first  Warden  : — 

How  the  eyes  and  the  heart  go  flying  back  over  the 
years  !  back  to  the  thrill  and,  the  fun  of  the  little  cabin- 
hole  in  the  corner,  with  almost  the  glow  of  a  picnic  about  it : 
and  the  early  twin-life  with  the  dear  Warden,  brimming 
with  hopes  and  joys  :  and  then  the  sudden  blessed  discovery 
of  children  :  and  the  great  big  house,  and  the  crowded 
drawing-room,  and  the  social  centre,  and  the  friends  from 
London,  and  the  firm-grown  College,  with 'a  history,  and 
a  past :  and  the  merry  renewals  of  Terms — and,  then, 
the  awful  shadow  of  the  sickness,  and  the  wonder  of  the 
release  from  fears,  and  all  the  renewed  heart,  and  the  laughter, 
and  songs,  and  tears — All  to  go  !  What  a  memory  to  carry 
away.  What  a  brimful  treasure.  What  an  endless  joy. 
No  taint  upon  it.     In  the  full  hey-day  of  vigour  and  triumph. 

Think  if  it  had  got  to  languish,  before  you  left  it,  and  to 
decay,  and  tumble  down,  and  to  drag,  so  that  you  were 
glad  to  escape  from  a  downward  fall.  How  miserable 
it  would  have  been.  How  different  now.  You  walk  out, 
clothed  about  with  the  radiance  of  a  most  wonderful  day, 
your  Oxford  day.  Nothing  now  can  ever  spoil  that.  You 
may  fail  at  Leeds  :  you  may  find  difficulties,  and  anxieties  ; 
but  you  will  always  pluck  up  heart  as  you  send  your  memory 
back  to  the  blessed  days  in  Oxford.  This  will  be  your 
stay,  and  your  comfort.  How  lovely  they  have  been.  How 
teeming  with  affection  and  warmth  and  friendship.  God 
bless  the  memory  of  them  to  you,  and  to  the  dearest  Warden. 


1889  (cBt.  42) 

This  year,  "  Lux  Mundi "  was  published.*  It  had 
been  planned  in  1887  by  the  holy  party  :  and  in  September 
1888  they  had  met  at  Amen  Court,  to  consider  the  essays 

*  Lux  Mundi :  a  series  of  studies  on  the  religion  of  the  Incarnation. 
Edited  by  Charles  Gore.  London,  John  Murray,  1889.  The  writers  were 
Holland,  Aubrey  Moore,  lUingworth,  Talbot,  Moberly,  Arthur  Lyttelton, 
Gore,  Lock,  Francis  Paget,  Campion,  Ottley.  The  first  of  the  essays  is 
by  Holland,  on  Faith. 


FROM   1885   TO   1889  169 

written  for  it.  In  June  1889,  they  met  at  Malvern,  and 
finished  the  book  for  pubHcation. 

This  year,  also,  the  Christian  Social  Union  was  founded. 
A  few  months  before  it  was  founded,  Holland  had  written 
to  Richmond,  in  1888,  "  We  live  in  economic  blindness 
down  here,  of  the  blackest  kind.  The  world  seems  to  have 
reacted  into  the  mind  of  40  years  ago.  You  would  think 
that  it  had  never  talked  democratic  language.  We  are  in  a 
mad  back-water,  eddying  furiously."  * 

Early  in  1889,  he  called  a  meeting  at  his  house  :  and  it 
was  decided  that  some  lectures  should  be  given,  at  Sion 
College,  to  clergy  and  others.  The  chances  of  success  for 
a  new  Society  might  be  measured  by  the  success  or  failure 
of  the  lectures.  They  were  given  during  Lent,  1889,  by 
Richmond,  whose  "  Christian  Economics  "  had  been  published 
in  1888.  The  Chairmen  at  these  four  lectures  were  Bishop 
Westcott,  Canon  Furse,  the  Bishop  of  Marlborough,  and 
Holland.  Between  April  and  June,  two  more  meetings 
were  held  at  Holland's  house  ;  and  on  June  14,  he  presided 
at  a  meeting  in  the  Chapter  House  of  St.  Paul's,  at  which 
a  Committee  was  appointed  to  form  the  new  Society. 
Westcott  was  its  first  President,  and  Holland  was  Chairman 
of  Committee.  The  Society's  first  office  was  at  Canon 
Mason's  mission-house,  8  Trinity  Square,  Tower  Hill. 
Its  first  Secretaries  were  G.  C.  Fletcher  and  Cyril  Bickersteth  ; 
after  them,   John   Carter,   now  Bursar   of   Pusey   House. 

*  Another  phrase,  in  a  letter  to  James  Adderley  :  "  For  the  first  time 
in  all  history,  the  poor  old  Church  is  trying  to  show  the  personal  sin  of 
corporate  and  social  sinning."  An  account  of  the  beginnings  of  the  Christian 
Social  Union,  by  Dr.  Percy  Dearmer,  was  published  by  the  Commonwealth 
Press,  July,  1912.  He  notes  some  of  the  earlier  episodes:  in  1833  and 
1847,  the  Factory  Acts  :  in  1854,  the  founding  of  the  Working  Men's 
College  :  in  1S71,  the  Act  legalising  Trade  Unions  :  in  1877,  the  founding 
of  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  :  in  1888,  the  appeal  of  the  Lambeth  Conference 
for  more  study  of  economic  problems.  The  name  of  the  Christian  Social 
Union  was  suggested  at  the  founders'  meeting,  June  14,  18S9.  Another 
name  thought-of  was  "  the  Brotherhood  of  Christ." 


170  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Its  first  work,  during  the  Dock  Strike  in  August,  was  to  get 
Dr.  Temple  up  from  Wales  to  London.*  A  leaflet  was 
issued,  to  announce  the  new  Society  :— 

This  Union  consists  of  Churchmen  who  have  the 
following  objects  at  heart  : 

(i)  To   claim   for   the   Christian   Law   the   ultimate 

authority  to  iiile  social  practice, 
(ii)  To  study  in  common  how  to  apply  the  moral 
truths    and    principles    of    Christianity    to    the 
social  and  economic  difiiculties  of  the  present 
time, 
(iii)  To  present  Christ  in  practical  life  as  the  Living 
Master   and   King,    the   enemy   of   wrong   and 
selfishness,    the    power    of    righteousness    and 
love. 
Members   are   expected  to   pray  for  the  well-being  of 
the  Union  at  Holy  Communion,  more  particularly  on  or 
about    the   following   days — the    Feast    of   the   Epiphany, 
the  Feast  of  the  Ascension,  the  Feast  of  St.  Michael  and 
All  Angels,  t 

*  To  Dr.  Copleston.  Aug.  1889. — I  was  up  in  the  Engadine  at  the 
Maloya  Hotel,  with  poor  Truro  very  ill,  but  at  last,  and  genuinely,  pro- 
gressing. The  hills  were  ugly  :  "but  the  people  very  pleasant ;  and  a  lovely 
band  played  to  us ;  and  Huxley  talked  amicably  to  us ;  and  we  danced 
on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  and  played  lawn  tennis :  and  so  survived  in 
spite  of  the  Alps.  And  certainly  I  got  rather  well,  and  wrote  a  good 
deal  of  a  memoir  of  Jenny  Lind  which  is  preparing ;  and  was  generally 
happy.  Now,  we  are  in  the  thick  of  the  strike.  On  Monday  night, 
Cyril  Bickersteth  flew  off,  without  a  rag  of  luggage,  to  Dolgelly,  to  hunt 
out  the  Bishop  of  London.  London  appeared  two  days  later :  came 
straight  to  Mason's  on  Tower  Hill :  we  collected  some  clergy,  and  talked 
it  all  out  with  him.  Next  morning  we  got  Champion  and  Burns  to  meet 
him  at  Mason's.  Since  then,  he  has  been  enclosed  with  the  Mayor,  Manning, 
and  Sir  John  Lubbock.  I  am  deUghted.  The  noble  old  Chief  that  he  is — 
he  sticks  rather  hard  at  certain  points :  and  is  rather  stiffly  economical 
in  the  older  fashion  of  economy.  But  he  is  so  great :  and  high :  and  square. 
And  he  is  working  hard  now,  in  the  cause.  The  men  are  most  patient : 
and  orderly  :  and  reasonable.  They  will  not  look  at  a  Socialist  Programme. 
We  had  a  most  happy  meeting  of  the  essayists  at  Malvern,  in  June,  full 
of  delicious  talks  of  the  famihar  type — most  friendly,  helpful,  active. 
We  shall  be  out  in  November.  You  will  scoff  loudly  at  much  that  is  in 
the  book. 

t  To  Dr.  Talbot.  1890. — We  deUberately  made  this  a  part  of  our 
Union,  as  essential  to  our  compactness  and  definiteness  of  aim.  We  did 
not  want  to  grow  indefinitely  large :    and  the    difficulty,  of  course,  is  not 


FROM  1885  TO  1889  171 

A  pamphlet,  also,  was  issued  ;  it  bears  marks  of  Holland's 
writing  : — 

We  believe  that  political  problems  are  rapidly  giving 
place  to  the  industrial  problem,  which  is  proving  itself 
more  and  more  to  be  the  question  of  the  hour.  It  is  the 
condition  of  industry  which  is  absorbing  all  attention  and 
all  anxieties.  It  is  the  needs  and  necessities  of  industry 
which  are  the  motive  powers  now  at  work  to  mould  and 
direct  the  fortunes  of  human  society.  It  is  the  intolerable 
situation  in  which  our  industrial  population  now  finds 
itself,  that  must  force  upon  us  a  reconsideration  of  the 
economic  principles  and  methods  which  have  such  disastrous 
and  terrible  results.  .  .  . 

We  are  of  those  who  are  convinced  that  the  ultimate 
solution  of  this  social  question  is  bound  to  be  discovered 
in  the  Person  and  life  of  Christ.  He  is  "  the  Man  "  ;  and 
He  must  be  the  solution  of  all  human  problems.  That 
is  our  primal  creed.  ...  He  is  Himself,  in  his  risen  and 
ascended  Royalty,  the  sum  of  all  human  endeavour,  the 
interpretation  of  aU  human  history,  the  goal  of  all  human 
growth,  the  bond  of  all  human  brotherhood.  It  is  in  this 
character  that  He  is  kept  so  little  in  practical  mind  ;  it 
is  this  ofhce  of  His  which  is  reserved  to  such  an  obscure 
and  ineffectual  background.  He  has  never  failed  to  be 
"  placarded "  before  the  suffering  poor  as  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Crucified.  So  far,  the  preaching  of  the  Church  has 
been  faithful  to  its  message.  But  the  significance  of  His 
vital  relation  to  the  historical  growth  of  man  in  the  mass, 
has  not  been  so  effectively  understood,  or  so  loyally 
declared.  .  .  . 

But  this  application  of  the  redemptive  force  of  Christ 
to  actual  society  can  be  no  very  simple  matter.  The  problems 
raised  by  human  society  are  manifold,  intricate,  and  immense ; 
and,  however  firm  our  conviction  may  be  that  Christ  is 
Himself  their  one  and  only  solution,  yet  the  solution  of 
a  difficult  problem  must,  of  necessity,  be  itself  difficult  : 
and,  if  the  perplexities  have  been  themselves  of  long  and 

your  excellent  Nonconformist,  but  your  fervid  Socialistic  Nothingarian. 
So  we  thought  it  right,  without  passing  a  positive  exclusive  rule,  to  say 
that  we  were  men  who  had  a  bond  of  union  in  the  Sacrament  of  Christ's 
Body.  Some  did  not  like  it :  but  we  passed  and  carried  it  It  is  right, 
I  think.     So  there  !     You  see  how  narrow  we  are  ! 


172  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

gradual  growth,  then  their  undoing,  also,  will  be  slow 
and  gradual.  It  is  a  work  that  needs  care,  study,  patience, 
deliberation. 

Richmond's  lectures  at  Sion  College  attracted  much 
attention.  They  were  published,  in  1890,  under  the  title 
"  Economic  Morals  "  ;  with  a  preface  by  Holland  :  but 
only  a  part  of  it  can  find  room  here  : — 

,The  scraps  of  economic  philosophy  which  most  of  us 
have  picked  up  belong  to  that  political  economy  which, 
in  the  days  of  our  youth,  was  still  in  the  condition  of  an 
isolated  science.  At  that  stage  of  its  career,  it  had  set 
itself  to  be  as  abstract  as  possible.  It  did  not  profess  to 
admit  of  direct  application  to  human  life.  It  only  dealt 
with  isolated  laws  acting  "  in  vacuo."  It  is  the  favourite 
phrases  of  this  stage  of  political  economy  which  have  passed 
into  popular  language,  and  have  become  current  coin  in 
the  market-place.  It  is  these  which  newspapers  bandy 
to  and  fro,  and  which  we  all  are  apt  to  bring  to  the  surface 
when  we  are  trying  to  appear  scientific  to  ourselves  or  to 
others. 

.  .  .  The  gap  between  the  isolated  laws  which  these 
catch  phrases  signalise,  and  the  actual  living  world  with 
which  we  are  dealing,  is  immense.  And  we  have  no  bridge 
by  which  to  pass  over  it.  The  laws  are  rigidly  true,  no 
doubt,  but,  in  their  present  isolated  condition,  they  would 
apply  indifferently  to  Saturn  or  to  the  Earth.  And  yet 
the  Earth  differs  seriously  from  Saturn ;  and  how  does  the 
difference  affect  and  qualify  the  action  of  these  laws  ? 
That  is  our  burning  question. 

.  .  .  We  live  as  shuttlecocks,  bandied  about  between 
our  political  economy  and  our  Christian  morality.  We 
go  a  certain  distance  with  the  science,  and  then,  when 
things  get  ugly  and  squeeze,  we  suddenly  introduce  moral 
considerations,  and  human  kindness,  and  charity.  And 
then,  again,  this  seems  weak,  and  we  puU  up  short  and  go 
back  to  tough  economic  principle.  So  we  live  in  miserable 
double-mindedness.  Each  counter-motive  intervenes  at 
purely  arbitrary  points.  When  our  economy  is  caught  in 
a  tangle,  we  fly  off  to  our  morality.  When  our  morality 
lands  us  in  a  social  problem,  we  take  refuge  in  some  naked 


FROM   1885   TO  1889  -173 

economic  law.     There  is  thus  no  consistency  in  our  treat- 
ment of  facts  ;  no  harmony  in  our  inward  convictions. 

Now,  in  this  work  of  Mr.  Richmond's,  this  dualism  seems 
to  me  to  cease.  The  fusion  of  the  double  elements  which 
enter  into  the  facts  is  complete.  The  science  succeeds 
in  being  ethical,  without  ceasing  to  be  scientific.  The 
ethical  principle  does  not  appear  as  outside  the  economic, 
entering  on  the  scene  merely  as  a  sentiment  to  check, 
and  to  limit,  and  to  correct  it ;  but  it  is  itself  the  intelligent 
and  constructive  force  which  builds  up,  from  within,  the 
scientific  principles.  The  economic  laws  are  exhibited, 
not  as  arbitrarily  limited  by  moral  considerations,  but  as 
themselves  the  issue  of  moral  relations. 

The  Christian  Social  Union  grew  rapidly,  and  found 
plenty  of  opportunities  both  for  the  study  of  social  problems 
and  for  the  improvement  of  conditions  of  industrial  life. 
It  started  "  white  lists,"  in  this  or  that  town,  of  tradespeople 
who  were  deserving  of  custom  because  they  were  generous 
to  their  employees.  It  investigated  and  published  instances 
of  overwork  and  bullying  and  beggarly  wages,  in  business 
concerns  or  in  domestic  service.  It  went  into  facts  of 
dangerous  trades :  cases  of  phosphorus-poisoning,  lead- 
poisoning,  accidents  from  unguarded  machinery,  and  so 
forth.  It  set  itself  to  support  proposals  for  public  works, 
such  as  afforestation,  and  reclamation  of  waste  land.  It 
was  determined,  above  all,  to  improve  the  conditions 
of  female  labour,  and  the  misery  of  sweated  women.  It 
was  in  touch  with  many  institutes  and  authorities  :  it 
had  a  good  share  in  the  quickening  of  the  national  conscience 
toward  industrial  evils. 

(From  1889  to  1894,  the  Christian  Social  Union  had  no 
representative  journal :  but  it  edited  the  "Economic  Review." 
In  1894,  HoUand  and  Adderley  started  "  Goodwill "  : 
but  that,  after  all,  was  nothing  more  than  a  "  parish 
magazine."  In  Jan.  1896,  came  the  first  number  of  "The 
Commonwealth . " ) 


174  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Among  lesser  events  of  1889,  he  became  Warden  of  the 
Guild  of  the  Epiphany,  and  held  this  office  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  The  Guild  of  the  Epiphany,  founded  in  1884,  is  a 
society  of  Churchwomen  who  are  concerned  with  teaching 
in  secondary  schools,  and  are  agreed  in  their  desire  to  be 
drawn  together  for  mutual  encouragement,  for  theological 
study,  and  for  united  prayer.  The  Guild  magazine,  "  A 
Flying  Leaf,"  was  first  issued  in  Feb.  1886.  The  name  of 
the  Guild,  and  its  motto,  "  Vidimus  Stellam  Ejus,"  date 
from  1885,  when  the  first  meeting  was  held,  at  Epiphany, 
in  St.  Paul's.  From  1887,  the  Guild  met  annually  at  St. 
Paul's,  for  conference  and  worship.  Miss  Murray,  who  was 
Superior  for  20  years,  writes  that  there  are  now  about  700 
members.  The  Guild  has  centres  in  Leeds,  Manchester, 
Brighton,  and  elsewhere. 

At  the  end  of  1889,  he  went  to  Egypt.  Bishop  Wilkinson 
was  nearly  broken  down,  with  miserable  depression,  and 
had  been  ordered  away  :  he  and  his  daughters  had  been 
in  Italy,  and  had  gone  on  to  Cairo  in  October  :  he  was  in 
need  of  such  help  and  friendship  as  Holland,  more  than 
any  man  in  the  world,  could  give  him.  Holland  went  out, 
with  a  medical  friend.  Dr.  Drewitt.  He  writes  home,  on 
Dec.  31,  "  Drewitt  has  helped  capitally  ;  strain  and  anxiety 
are  passed."  On  Jan.  20,  "  Things  are  very  anxious,  and 
the  outlook  very  bad  :  I  cannot  see  how  resignation  can 
possibly  be  avoided."  On  Jan.  30,  "  In  general,  he  is 
t'ired  out,  and  cannot  shake  off  the  depression."  Miss 
Wilkinson,  also,  was  not  in  good  health.  Against  these 
troubles,  Holland  set  himself.  But  he  had  no  great  liking  for 
Egypt  :  and  he  must  have  longed,  now  and  again,  to  be 
in  England.  They  were  three  months  on  the  Nile  :  from 
Cairo  to  Assouan  and  back. 

For  the  general  happiness,  he  wrote  a  journal :  it  was 
not  read  aloud,  but  they  all  read  it,  bit  by  bit,  as  it  was 


FROM  1885  TO  1889  175 

written  up.  It  was  designed  to  amuse  them ;  and  he  kept 
all  anxieties  out  of  it.  Much  of  it—"  The  Log  of  the  Water- 
logged," he  called  it — is  put  here,  in  a  chapter  by  itself. 
Their  dahabeah,  the  Pharaoh,  belonged  to  Cook  and  Sons. 
The  dramatis  per soncB  are  the  Bishop,  his  daughters  Constance 
(Mrs.  Davis)  and  Margaret,  12  years  old  (Mrs.  Henley), 
Holland,  Dr.  Drewitt,  and  others  who  must  be  arranged  in 
the  order  of  their  appearance  on  the  scene  : — 

Dr.  Porter,  "  Fez  Pacha " ;  an  American  cleric,  of 
Charleston  :  his  great  work  was  a  school  which  he  founded 
after  the  American  Civil  War. 

Miss  Gooch :  half-sister  to  John  Maxwell-Lyte,  the 
Bishop's  chaplain. 

Tudros  :  the  dragoman. 

The  Rais  :  the  captain. 

The  Sirdar :  not  Lord  Grenfell,  but  Mr.  John  Cook  :  a 
person  of  great  importance  in  Cairo  :  Holland  gave  him 
the  title. 

Miss  Amelia  B.  :  Miss  Amelia  B.  Edwards,  whose  book 
on  Egypt  was  read  during  the  tour. 

Dodson  :  Miss  Wilkinson's  maid. 

The  Old  Lady  :  one  of  the  crew,  who  was  remarkable 
for  the  ample  drapery  of  his  garments. 


Ill 

"THE    LOG   OF   THE   WATER-LOGGED  " 

(Started  Dec.  i6,  1889,  from  Cairo.) 

Tuesday,  Dec.  17. — About  11,  a  whistle  :  and  Cook  was 
on  us,  in  his  glory — a  big  steamer — 48  personally  well- 
conducted  tourists :  and  Mohammed  the  Magnificent. 
We  landed  :  scene  :  screams  :  scrimmage  :  herds  of  donkey- 
boys,  all  yelling  at  once  :  Mohammed  too  imperial  to  assist 
in  the  fray  :  Bishop  calmly  mounted  amid  the  hubbub  : 
the  women  like  vast  lumps  of  bulging  shawls  on  the  tiny 
asses.  The  procession  moved  off  :  shouts  :  sticks  :  yells. 
A  mingling  of  Memphis  and  Margate,  Pyramids  and  Primrose 
Hill.  Then  long  ride  :  Cook  and  chaos  :  Sakharah,  lumpy 
and  stupid :  Serapeum,  vast  and  depressing :  Tomb  of 
Tih,  fascinating  and  lively :  many  things  forgotten ; 
exhausted  faculties ;  noisy  boys ;  repeated  horrors  of 
scrimmage  :  felt  as  if  we  should  never  reach  the  dahabeah, 
with  its  hearts  waiting  to  greet  us,  and  sweet  Cookless  quiet. 
At  last  !  Only,  we  find  that  the  ladies  have  been  strangely 
happy  without  us. 

Thursday,  19. — Final  flight  of  Margaret's  red  hat. 
Taking  advantage  of  a  sudden  gust,  it  took  to  its  heels 
and  ran.  The  good  little  boat  at  the  stern  caught  and  held 
if  for  a  moment ;  but  it  shook  itself  free,  just  as  a  sailor 
snatched  at  it ;  and  far  away  it  floated,  like  a  dying  scarlet 
sunset,  to  be  swallowed  by  some  startled  crocodile.  Still 
the  S.  wind  blew  :  we  crawled  :  we  crept :  we  stuck. 

Friday,  20. — S.  wind  persistent.  We  crawl  a  few 
scamped  miles :  moor  on  desert-bank.  Drewitt,  with 
Margaret,  shoots  hoopoe.  Bishop,  with  Holland,  retires 
up  desert,  for  contemplation.  Startled  by  strange,  remote 
snorts  :  saunter  with  mild  wonder  :  rain  falls  :  they  sit 
under  bank  :    see  jackal.     Snort,  snort.     Finally  it  breaks 

176 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"     177 

upon  them  that  the  tug  is  calHng  them  home.  As  they 
near  the  ship,  Fez  Pacha  seen  high  on  bank,  menacing, 
shouting.  They  tremble,  tumble  in  :  ship  flies  off,  at  the 
rate  of  half-a-mile  an  hour. 

Saturday,  21. — Porter  Pacha  can  endure  no  longer  : 
starts  on  the  war-trail,  to  secure  letters,  and  scalp  Cook  : 
disappears  over  side  into  tug  :  reaches  Assiout  :  stands 
amid  wondering  Arabs,  ejaculating  "  Cook-man  "  :  hoisted 
on  donkey,  through  the  black  night,  beards  the  Cook- 
man  in  his  secret  lair  :  Cook-man  too  terrified  even  to  ask 
him  to  dinner,  but  surrenders  letter-bag,  with  which  he 
returns  :  is  greeted  with  enthusiasm  at  Beni-Souef  by  grate- 
ful dahabeah.  The  walks  at  Beni-Souef,  dull  rainy  day, 
reminded  us  forcibly  of  back  parts  of  Hammersmith. 

Sunday,  22. — (H.C.  8.30,  M.  11,  E.  6).  Village  on  shore 
all  Copt  Christian  :  very  little  work  on  Sunday  :  most 
kindly  Sheik,  in  afternoon,  greeted  us,  with  fine,  clever 
face :  clean  house.  Cigarettes  of  peace  passed  round : 
Drewitt  did  his  duty  unflinchingly  at  a  critical  moment : 
Bishop  and  Holland  ceased  to  regret  that  they  did  not  smoke. 
Kingfishers  :  geese  in  flight :  ugly  heavy  sky. 

Monday,  23. — Creepy-crawl :  crawly-creep.  Quiet  morn- 
ing :  read  Wallace  together.  Tug  paused :  Bishop,  Miss 
Gooch,  and  Holland  enjoyed  a  walk  abroad,  and  eagerly 
conversed  on  Old  Testament  :  time  flew  :  a  flying  figure 
recalled  them  to  a  sense  of  the  situation  :  of  course,  10 
min.  after  they  had  started,  the  tug  had  felt  an  impulse 
to  start :  as  they  neared,  snorts  warned  them  of  their  fate  : 
the  fez  waved,  high  and  ominous,  on  the  quarter-deck  : 
they  crept  in,  amid  universal  abuse,  and  the  gallant  ship 
bounded  forward  on  its  headlong  career,  making,  at  times, 
as  much  as  half-a-mile  an  hour. 

Tuesday,  24. — The  grand  crisis  with  our  dear  little  friend, . 
the  tug.  The  early  morning  light  revealed  another  dahabeah 
close  behind,  positively  overtaking  us  and  our  tug,  yet  it 
had  but  men,  against  steam.  Council  of  war  :  no  one  had 
a  word  to  say  on  behalf  of  our  young  friend  :  with  all  its 
child-like  zeal,  it  was  obviously  beaten.  After  prayers, 
the  decision  was  taken.  Back  to  Cook  and  Cairo,  it  flew  oft". 
And  we  set  out  tracking.  No  more  bubble-and-shake 
at  our  side,  as  it  lovingly  clung  to  us  :  no  more  blacks  on 
the  nose  from  its  chimney.  General  delight  at  being  left 
to  the  simple  resources  of  primitive  nature.    Quiet  movement, 


178  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

almost  soundless,  as  the  big  river  slid  past.  Rest  mid- 
day :  Bishop,  Miss  Gooch,  and  Holland  walked  through 
filthy  village  of  Bibbeh,  and  discovered  Coptic  church. 
Saints  looked  down  at  us  roughly  but  kindly  with  a  touch 
of  solemnity  and  peace.  A  great  joy  to  kneel  and  pray. 
If  only  the  dear  good  Christians  would  be  but  a  little  tiny 
bit  cleaner  than  their  neighbours.  But  perhaps  that  is 
asking  too  much.     Sunset  unutterable. 

Wednesday.  Christmas  Day. — (H.C.  8.30,  M.  11,  E.  6.) 
The  brightest  and  most  beautiful  morning  of  all :  the  air 
brisk,  and  the  sun  brilliant,  and  the  earth  aglow.  A  most 
refreshing  bath  of  illuminated  air.  And  Margaret  was 
a-bubble  from  morning  to  night  :  from  the  first  moment 
when  she  woke  to  find  the  stockings  hung  at  her  bedside, 
charged  with  hidden  mysteries  and  nuts,  down  to  the  last 
hour  when,  with  the  splendours  of  snapdragon  over,  she 
out-sat  all  other  bed-goers,  asleep,  with  happiness,  crouched 
amid  the  folds  of  her  sister's  wraps  on  deck  in  the  dark. 
The  gentle  Mahommedans  decorated  the  ship  with  palms. 
The  Bishop  played  ball  on  the  sandy  shore  ! !  Tudros 
built  up  the  most  beautiful  Xmas  dinner,  served  on  a  table 
made  touchingly  hideous  with  spikes  of  cut  palm-leaves  : 
in  the  midst  stood  a  pear-tree  in  a  pot,  with  oranges  tied 
on  it  (or,  as  others  assert,  an  orange-tree  with  pears  tied 
on).  Toasts  were  drunk :  glasses  tinkled :  a  rich  and 
perilous  cake,  covered  with  sweets,  made  a  vehement 
protest  against  those  heedless  souls  who,  in  the  excitement 
of  the  hour,  were  tempted  to  forget  that  Miss  Gooch  had 
a  birthday.  Finally — while  the  American  boat,  at  hand, 
was  crowned  with  lanterns,  and  after  their  felucca  had 
startled  the  poor  blind  Nile  with  red  and  blue  lights,  and 
Arab  howls — Margaret's  dream  was  realised  :  snapdragon 
appeared  :  the  darkies  crowded  round  with  snatching  black 
fingers,  and  gleaming  teeth.  The  last  blue  flame  flickered 
down  :  the  last  gleam  died  away  from  the  black  dish  : 
and  Christmas  Day  was  over  :  and  the  stars  that  were 
shining  over  English  fields  shone  down  on  the  quiet  deck, 
where  we  all  sat  on,  in  the  peaceful  dark,  talking  until 
happy  bed-time  came  ;  and  even  Margaret  was  ready  to 
sink  asleep. 

Thursday,  26. — At  last  we  move  !  It  came  as  the  men 
were  tracking  through  wide  creeks,  plunging  into  the  water, 
swimming   with   bare   black   backs,    wildly   shoving  poles. 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"    179 

in  passionate  zeal  to  pass  the  American  dahabeah  ;  singing 
weird  sailor-songs  in  double  refrain  ;  rushing  on  deck  in 
the  boat ;  rushing  off  again  to  shore,  with  the  immense 
rope  drawn  after  them,  in  chorus. — In  the  thick  of  it  all, 
the  Bishop  looked  up  from  his  book,  and  lo  !  the  other 
dahabeah  had  its  small  sail  hoisted.  Why  not  we  ?  We 
turned  to  protest ;  when  lo  !  we  find  that  ours  is  already 
up,  and  we  had  never  seen  it  happen.  It  is  the  north  wind 
so  long  desired.  It  is  come.  The  men  have  to  let  the 
tracking-rope  be  dragged  from  their  hands  :  we  pick  them 
up,  with  a  rush,  as  we  scud  close  to  shore.  Soon  the  great 
mainsail  is  loosed  :  we  are  flying  :  20  miles  are  cleared 
before  nightfall :  we  sit  and  listen  to  the  novel  sound  of 
the  water  gurgling  away  under  our  keel.  The  sunset 
spreads  its  splendours  ;  and  we  fly  on,  into  the  very  heart 
of  it.  The  moon  rises,  and  gleams,  and  stiU  we  fly  on. 
It  is  delicious  :  everyone  is  uplifted  :  the  crew  are  happy  : 
the  Rais  shows  his  white  teeth  :  the  sail  curves  high  among 
the  stars.  AU  is  well  with  us.  So  we  scud  ;  and,  at  last, 
sleep. 

Friday,  27. — Through  all  the  day,  we  keep  it  up,  four 
or  five  miles  an  hour.  Porter  Pacha  in  high  delight :  he 
stands  erect  on  deck,  like  Columbus  in  the  act  of  discovering 
America  :  at  last,  he  feels,  things  are  moving.  The  Bishop 
is  not  even  allowed  his  exercise.  Most  delightful,  to  scud 
on  in  the  face  of  a  grand,  windy  sunset,  full  of  wings,  and 
hair  blown  like  Margaret's  across  her  face — a  wide,  wild 
sky  aU  aflame.  All  the  hosts  of  the  stars  walked  out,  as 
usual,  to  look  at  us,  and  to  wonder  why  on  earth  we  had 
come  just  there,  of  all  places.  Bishop  trudged,  at  night 
on  land,  with  a  lantern,  doing  his  duty  and  satisfying  his 
imperious  conscience. 

Saturday,  28.  \_After  a  visit  to  the  rock-tombs  at  Beni- 
hassan.] — We  swarm  home  :  wild  little  cats  of  children 
crowd  like  blue  flies  round  Drewitt,  who  imprudently 
bought  three  mummied  cats.  A  brute  of  a  donkey-man 
hit  one  of  the  children  a  hard  thud  with  his  pole  :  the 
Bishop  had  to  spring  from  his  donkey  and  make  amends 
to  the  tiny  crouching  cre3.ture.  On  they  swarmed,  and 
shrieked,  and  laughed,  with  scraps  of  clothes,  with  engaging 
grins,  down  to  the  very  shore.  Drewitt  summoned,  at 
departrfre,  to  cure  small  fragment  of  a  child,  in  the  midst 
of   sympathising   crowd.     The   poor   little   scrap   had   his 


i8o  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

lungs  damaged ;  and  accepted  meekly  the  situation.  He 
was  sent  off  with  half  a  mustard  plaster,  and  the  Bishop's 
comforter.  This  last  gift  multiplied  the  symptoms  of  a 
like  disease  in  several  bystanders. 

Sunday,  29. — Right  away  we  go,  with  our  sails  reefed 
by  marvellous  feats  of  crew,  crawling  high  aloft  by  help 
of  toes  and  eyelids,  with  skirts  blown  in  voluminous  folds 
over  their  heads  :  swaying  in  the  wind  like  tossing  clothes 
hung  out  to  dry.  One  small  rag  rigged  up  against  a  jury- 
mast  is  enough  to  carry  our  good  barge  along. 

Monday,  30. — We  and  a  crowd  of  boats  had  lain  all 
night  within  the  perilous  Bluff  of  Abulf ayda  ;  in  the  morning, 
we  all  rushed  the  corner  in  a  mass — a  beautiful  scene  of 
flying  sails,  like  a  covey  of  swallows,  cross-winged — we, 
two  dahabeahs,  big  and  portentous,  like  two  omnibuses 
that  had  taken  wings  and  mingled  with  the  flight  of  birds. 
Round  we  sped  :  cliffs  craggy,  scrawled,  beetling,  brilliant 
in  white  and  yellow.  Then  the  first  grand  bend  for  Assiout. 
Wind  grew  tremendous :  barge  heels  over,  lower  deck 
under  water :  yells  of  screaming  Arabs,  hauling  at  big 
sail,  almost  lugged  into  the  river  :  Tudros  loses  his  head, 
rushes  like  a  startled  alligator  into  ladies'  cabin :  Miss 
Wilkinson  with  dressing-gown  :  Tudros  summons  them  to 
the  deck  :  compels  them  to  fly  up  ladder  ;  anyhow ;  in 
anything :  up  all  must  come.  General  impression,  that 
all  is  lost.  On  deck,  the  row  is  terrific  :  yells,  lugs,  struggles  : 
the  captain  breaks  from  his  statuesque  calm,  shouts,  suddenly 
rushes  to  stern,  and  roundly  boxes  on  the  ears  a  number  of 
his  crew.  This  restores  order.  To  our  universal  rapture, 
the  other  dahabeah  is  seen  to  be  driven  ashore.  We  tear 
along,  and  round  the  corner  triumphantly.  Margaret, 
with  magnificent  nerve,  stole  down  to  the  cabin  to  comfort 
the  children  [her  dolls].  Finally,  in  the  howling  blast, 
the  men  climb  out  like  cats  along  the  yards,  to  secure  the 
flapping  sail :  a  miracle  of  climbing  :  sails  reefed  :  captain's 
dark  face  is  lit  with  inward  laughter  :  he  cannot  hold-in 
his  pride  :  his  white  teeth  gleam  :  he  squats,  and  lights 
a  victorious  cigarette. 

Tuesday,  31. — A  fair  run,  with  a  rising  wind  :  we  round 
one  big  corner  :  the  wind  grows,  but  we  are  all  now  as 
brave  as  lions ;  even  Margaret's  children  keep  calm  and 
cool.  The  Bishop  and  Holland  start  for  their  normal 
walk :    ladies  scoff  heartlessly  :    Tudros  taps  his  forehead 


"THE   LOG  OF  THE   WATER-LOGGED"     i8i 

significantly  :  but  the  two  enthusiasts  enjoy  themselves 
thoroughly  :  come  back  refreshed  and  pleased,  conveying 
silent  reproaches  to  the  "  mugged  "  ones  in  the  boat.  It 
is  New  Year's  Eve  :  and  we  think  much  of  many.  Margaret 
defiantly  and  desperately  sits  up  alone,  with  all  her  children, 
to  see  the  New  Year  in :  by  this  feat,  she  goes  ahead  of  her 
sister  May :  a  distinct  triumph.  The  year  entered,  in 
Egypt,  she  found,  in  much  the  same  way  as  it  does  in  England: 
as  soon  as  the  clock  strikes  twelve,  there  it  is  at  the  door, 
and  no  one  saw  it  come — not  even  Margaret  !  Very 
odd! 

New  Year's  Day,  1890. — H.C.  8.30.  Cards,  and 
presents,  and  joys,  for  Margaret.  And  the  mail !  Great 
gladness.  Miss  Gooch  in  high  and  fertile  activity  all  day, 
exuberant  in  response.  Idle  and  heedless  men  go  happy 
slumming  with  Margaret  in  Assiout,  on  asses.  Return 
by  American  Mission :  excellent  buildings  :  good  blind 
old  lady  :  thin,  sick,  dry  Scotch  Missioner  :  and  ah  !  the 
chapel !  !  rigged  up  for  examination :  portrait  of  Her 
Majesty,  and  Tewfik,  in  "  sanctuary  "  :  in  front,  arm-chairs, 
and  a  globe  !  Too  much  for  the  Bishop,  who  flung  himself 
into  his  donkey-saddle,  and  rode  off  fast  and  furiously 
for  home.  After  luncheon,  Miss  Gooch  stiU  at  it.  Men 
and  Margaret  off  again  on  excellent  asses  to  mountain. 
On  return,  we  receive  distinguished  visitors  :  three  gallant 
heroes  of  English  occupation  :  Baker  Pacha,  grey,  kindly, 
dignified,  paternal :  Johnson  Pacha,  spare,  alert,  lonesome, 
with  the  luminous  brown  eyes  of  a  prophetical  idealist : 
Harrington  Bey,  vigorous,  hearty,  and  human,  with  jovial 
intelhgence  of  men  and  things.  Interview  delightful, 
but  so  prolonged  that  at  its  close  we  reel  to  our  beds  for 
repose.     Dinner  :  moon  :  sleep. 

Thursday,  2.  Dr.  Drewitt  departs :  amid  chorus  of 
regrets.  We  feel  that  our  hold  on  Science  is  lost,  and  much 
kind,  quiet,  friendly  help  withdrawn,  together  with  a  general 
cheerful  sense  that  all  things  are  getting  better  and  better 
every  day  :  this  we  lose  :  and  a  genial,  smiling  companion- 
ship, that  is  always  at  hand  yet  never  obtruded.  General 
grief  :  as  we  glide  off  at  3  oclock,  dropping  down  seven  quiet 
miles  in  a  sunny  untroubled  slithery,  slipping  sort  of  sliding 
way. 

Friday,  3rd. — We  retired  gracefully  on  to  a  sand-bank. 
The  Rais  called  upon  all  his  intellectual  resources,   cast 


i82  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

anchors  far  out,  and  lugged  the  ship's  nose  round  :  great 
sing-song  :  appeals  to  Mahomet.  The  men  dragged  the 
ship  off :  they  plunged  into  icy  water  :  they  skipped  and 
grinned  :  and  away  we  went  again  for  a  nice  evening  run. 
Began  "  the  Bothie."  Great  tub-crisis  was  opened  upon 
us.  Mysterious  odours,  tracked  by  diligent  search  under- 
ground to  the  oozing  bath  !     Horror  ! 

Saturday,  4th.  The  big  tub-boom  continues.  Pacha 
descends  into  the  black  hold  :  is  believed  to  have  gone  down 
the  pipe  itself  :  emerges,  dusty  but  convinced.  It  is  the 
tub.  All  the  circumstantial  evidence  substantiates  its 
guilt.  It  stands  publicly  convicted  :  it  leaks  at  all  its 
corners,  poor  dear.     The  Sirdar  had  worn  it  through. 

Simday.  Tudros  rises  to  the  occasion :  deploys  his 
plumbing  forces  :  digs  up  the  boards  :  plunges,  with  all 
his  hosts,  into  the  black  depths  :  he  putties,  plugs,  and 
powders  the  whole  place.  Once  again,  the  Pacha  descends 
the  pipe  :  and  pronounces  the  ultimate  verdict.  "  There 
is  no  smell  left  but  the  smell  of  the  stuff  that  was  put  to 
destroy  the  smell."  But  the  bath  must  remain  silent  and 
unused  :  there  will  come  no  more  the  happy  splash  of  early 
sponge  :  no  frisky  plunge  will  ever  again  awake  the  rosy 
morn,  nor  any  bump  of  head  or  elbow  shake  Miss  Wilkinson 
from  her  last  hope  of  sleep.  Silence  reigns  there  :  for  indeed 
the  tub  has  yielded  to  the  inroads  of  Time,  and  to  the 
weight  of  the  Sirdar.  No  putty  can  cure  its  cracks,  nor 
any  plug  its  corners.  We  can  only  reserve  our  gathered 
wrath  for  the  devoted  head  of  "  Jeune  Cook  " — when  we 
see  him  !  !  !  A  delicious  walk  round  the  town,  at  sunset, 
glowing,  amber,  mellow,  solemn.  A  boy,  who  had  care- 
fully thought  how  best  to  please  the  Bishop,  made  up  his 
mind  at  last  that  it  would  best  be  done  by  lifting  a  ragged 
donkey  by  its  tail ;  but  he  was  disappointed. 

Monday. — ^A  momentary  pang  at  passing  Abydos ; 
but  Tudros  and  the  wind  together  are  irresistible.  Away 
we  scud,  with  just  a  look  of  penitential  reproach  on  the 
Bishop's  face  :  we  cannot  help  it  :  we  feebly  fortify  our 
misdeed  by  the  example  of  Miss  Amelia  B.  We  make 
another  10  miles  before  we  settle-in  for  the  night.  The 
great  golden  moon  suddenly  pushed  itself  up  above  the 
red  crags,  wide  as  a  big  dish,  and  yellow  as  corn  in  harvest, 
round,  full,  strong,  glorious,  in  the  dusky-blue  vault  of 
eastern  sky. 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"     183 

Tuesday,  Jan.  7.  The  wind  dropped  like  a  shot :  a 
dead  calm,  a  pause  for  thought  :  and,  then,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  loss  of  the  poor  infant  tug,  we  felt  the  puff 
of  the  southern  wind.  Tracking,  punting,  faintly  lifted 
by  side-puffs,  we  crawled  into  Farshut,  at  the  nastiest, 
dirtiest,  ugliest,  noisiest,  smelliest,  horridest  spot  that  the 
Rais  could  select.  Sugar  factory  high  above  us.  Roars 
and  jabberings  far  into  the  night,  all  round  us.  A 
thick,  damp  mist  rose.  Dust  :  filth :  shouts.  This  is 
Farshut. 

Friday.  Dendereh. — For  facts,  see  Murray  :  for  sentiment, 
see  Miss  Amelia  B.  :  for  rich  and  deep  impression,  see 
inside  any  one  of  the  party.  It  was  the  first  sight  that 
was  complete  enough  to  produce  its  direct  and  original 
effect,  to  be  felt  and  apprehended  even  by  the  Cockiest 
of  souls.  Margaret  glowing,  over  the  donkey.  Back  by 
11.30,  in  a  wild  attempt  to  induce  the  crew  to  attend  their 
Friday  mosque  :  but  Time  and  Tudros  were  too  many  for 
us.  The  crew  relieved  themselves  with  what  we  tried 
to  believe  were  hymns  :  Tudros,  more  suspicious,  attributed 
to  them  a  totally  different  character.  P.S. — It  should 
be  mentioned  that,  during  most  of  this  period,  Margaret  had 
been  suffering  from  a  curious  local  disorder,  known  scienti- 
fically as  "  the  bubbles."  It  is  due  to  an  unfortunate 
excess  of  happiness,  of  which  it  is  difficult  to  relieve  the 
poor  child.     Time  alone  can  work  a  perfect  cure.. 

Sunday. — Luxor  inspects  us  through  its  glasses.  We  do 
not  know  what  we  looked  to  it :  but  to  us  it  looked  strangely 
hideous  :  to  Miss  Gooch's  profound  disappointment,  who 
had  expected  a  fairy  sylvan  bower.  In  the  depths  of  the 
dust-heap,  we  could  detect,  with  the  naked  eye,  good  English 
folk  patiently  passing,  two  and  two,  to  church.  The  sight 
kindled  our  imaginations  :  and  four  of  us  shot  off  in  a 
boat  to  church  (accompanied  by  Gregorian  chanting  from 
the  crew). 

Monday. — • 

Tub  !  in  which  our  fathers  plunged 

Many  years  before  us  : 

Where  the  happy  Sirdar  sponged. 

And  hummed  a  merry  chorus  : 

Who  could  dream  that  you  would  prove 

Ridiculously  porous  ? 


i84  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Some  such  impassioned  lyric  burst  from  the  lips  of 
Porter  Pacha,  it  is  believed,  as  he  entered  Cook's  office 
on  Monday  morning.  The  result  of  his  appeal  was,  that 
the  entire  resources  of  civilisation  were  to  be  applied  to 
remedy  the  disaster.  In  the  meantime,  we  all  discovered 
that  everybody  greatly  preferred  the  small  tub  to  the  big  : 
and  lastly,  the  armies  of  officials  who  pranced  down  to  the 
rescue  found  that  everything  had  been  done  already.  So  they 
scraped  the  putty  off  the  tub  and  themselves  :  and  thus 
ended  the  great  tub-problem,  to  everybody's  satisfaction. 

We  had  a  big  day  over  the  water,  at  Rameseum  and 
Medinet  Abu  :  until  all  faculties  collapsed,  with  exhausted 
admiration.  We  all  came  to  a  dead  stop  at  the  same 
moment.  Returned  by  poor  foolish  belated  old  Colossi, 
who  had  sat  down,  in  a  corn-field,  about  4000  years  ago, 
and  have  never  since  been  able  to  remember  where  they 
had  intended  to  go  to.  We  left  them,  still  there,  bewildered 
and  dumb. 

Tuesday. — Post  to  be  responded  to  :  pressure,  confusion, 
upset.  At  last  off  to  Karnac  :  luncheon  there.  Immense 
and  melancholy  havoc  of  old  Time.  Dusty  and  thick 
smells  ;  dreary  musty  sights  :  and,  in  the  midst,  broken 
grandeur — self-assertive,  proud,  unyielding — strong  in  cruel 
magnificence  of  self-display,  but  with  a  touch  of  haughty 
patience,  as  if  it  would  endure  to  fall.  A  tangled  mass  of 
memories,  jumbled,  tumbled,  mumbled.  Exhausting,  very  : 
but  we  come  to  a  sharp  check,  just  in  time,  through  signal- 
cry  of  Dr.  Porter.  Visitors  begin  to  abound  ;  pleasant  but 
perilous.  Byrons,  Greenwood,  Strange,  Effendi :  brains 
reel  a  little  :  where  will  it  end  ?   Bishop  calm,  but  resolute.  j 

Margaret  still  suffering  ;    most  violent  attack  of  "  Hubble- 
bubbles." 

Thursday,  i6th. — Visit  to  the  Kings'  Tombs — the 
culmination  of  the  Egyptian  ideal — the  royal  seclusion, 
the  deep  secrecy,  the  mystery  of  the  dead  body,  the  fatigue 
of  re-iteration.  The  type,  too,  of  the  failure  of  the  ideal — 
the  seclusion  penetrated,  the  secrecy  exposed,  the  tomb 
rifled,  the  hiding-place  emptied.  Johnson  Pacha  at  tea  : 
good  eager  talk.  And  then  !  !  The  charity  of  the  Bishop 
draws  a  veil  over  that  hideous  rout  of  Comus,  the  Oriental 
feast !  The  dreadful  details  are  burnt  into  our  memories 
and  need  no  record  in  the  log.  And  the  good,  fat  Effendi 
had  right  intentions,  we  believe.     So  there  !  we  will  say 


"THE   LOG   OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"     185 

no  more  about  it.  It  shall  remain  a  dumb  and  buried 
nightmare.  The  Bishop  took  kindly  to  three  Radical 
Liberationists,  and  courteously  entertained  their  expressions 
of  opinion  on  the  clergy,  etc.  They  were  hearty,  and 
amicable  ;  and,  moreover,  neither  they  nor  their  excellent 
ladies  showed  any  signs  of  amazement  or  distress  at  the 
horrors  of  the  meal.  Naturally,  coming  fresh  from  their 
own  barbarian  dens,  they  would  be  less  sensitive  to  the  loss 
of  knives  and  forks  with  which  they  have,  themselves, 
become  but  recently  familiar.  No  doubt  this  is  the  very 
fashion  with  which  they  devour  their  food  in  their  Radical 
homes.  We,  in  the  meantime,  fly  headlong  home,  sick, 
hungry,  exhausted,  to  calm  ourselves  with  claret  and  biscuits. 
Night  closes  in,  to  comfort  and  soothe  us. 

Friday. — Johnson  Pacha  to  dine  :  in  excellent  force  : 
the  brown  eyes  all  alive  :  the  face  alight  with  decision  : 
frank,  clear,  forceful,  enheartening,  delightful. 

Saturday. — ^At  last,  off !  With  the  old  delicious  sense 
of  easy  motion,  wheel-less  and  smooth  ;  the  old  freedom 
of  air  and  light :  breezy  movements,  happy  gurglings, 
sliding  waters,  rippling  keel :  and,  high  above  us,  into  the 
windy  skies,  the  towering  sail  once  more,  curved  like  a 
hawk's  wing,  swelling,  with  shadowy  hollow,  against  the 
glow  of  sunset,  as  the  sun  goes  down  in  all  his  old  habitual 
splendour — all  this  is  good  !  We  feel  the  freshness  of 
free  mariners,  who  roam  at  large — released  from  mud- 
banks,  and  stuffy  conventional  society,  and  the  feathers 
of  plucked  geese,  and  the  ragged  tatters  of  skinned 
sheep. 

Sunday,  19. — Dear  Bubbles  erected  again  her  painting 
apparatus,  and  started  at  the  pink-yellow  hills  :  a  short, 
sharp  bout,  and  poor  Bubbles  fell  back,  beaten  again : 
the  hills  grinned  at  her  victoriously.  But  she  will  conquer 
them  yet  !  the  silly  old  pink  things.  Just  let  them  wait 
a  bit  and  see.  Friday  :  Assouan. — We  draw  up  to  the 
green  island,  by  a  green  strip,  past  eight  other  dahabeahs. 
Graceful  town  :  brilliant  desert :  and,  above  us,  the  moving 
waters,  feeling  their  way  down  the  islands,  which  are  piled 
like  castles  gone  to  sleep  in  a  dream,  and  have  a  strong 
touch  in  them  of  Cornish  coasts.  There  we  lie  for  a  week, 
pleased  and  freshened.  Wednesday,  Jan.  29. — Altogether, 
the  "  Tropics  "  have  behaved  with  admirable  moderation. 
We  have  perpetually  searched  for  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  ; 


i86  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

peeped  under  Margaret's  bed  :    looked  in  every  hole  and 
corner  :  never  could  catch  a  sight  of  it. 

Friday,  Jan.  31. — ^Today  we  look  our  last  on  Assouan: 
we  go  south  no  more  :  we  organise  a  retreat.  We  find 
ourselves  sidling  along,  in  a  silly,  weak-minded  sort  of 
apologetic  impotence,  broadside  to  the  stream,  like  a  hen 
in  a  gale  of  wind,  or  a  crab  gone  out  of  its  mind.  In  some 
such  side-long  fashion,  we  made  six  miles.  Saturday, 
Feb.  I. — That  old  Tropic  turned  up  with  a  vengeance. 
Stupid  old  thing.  She  was  determined  to  make  up  for 
being  so  late.  We  tried  to  appease  her  by  shedding  garment 
after  garment :  but  not  a  bit  of  it  !  The  worst  of  it  is 
that  as  the  old  dottering  ship  moves  round  and  round 
in  her  chassez,  the  sun  seizes  the  opportunity  to  hunt  us 
round  and  round  the  deck,  roaring  with  laughter  at  us, 
the  jolly  old  boy,  as  he  drives  us  out  of  each  tiny  fragment 
of  shadow  in  which  we  struggle  to  escape  his  eye.  We  go 
hot  to  bed  :  and  Margaret,  in  the  dead  of  night,  turns 
(it  is  believed)  a  complete  somersault  in  the  air,  and  is  found 
on  the  floor,  with  her  head  to  the  door,  and  a  startled  jug 
of  water  staring  at  her  in  pale  amazement  :  neither  she  nor 
it  could  tell  how  she  got  there. 

Monday. — A  good  long  day  of  work — rowing,  sliding, 
waddling,  careering  in  mooning  circles,  slipping  along 
somehow,  the  old  ship  turns  her  nose  to  every  point  of  the 
compass,  with  an  aimless  and  brainless  air  of  good-humoured 
indifference,  Tuesday. — Dear  old  Tudros  had  been  a 
wreck  from  sciatica :  but  had  been  hot-ironed  out  by 
Dodson,  and,  after  sleeping  all  one  sultry  day  stuffed  up 
in  tiny  cabin  crammed  with  tinned  meats  and  preserved 
lobsters  and  potted  jams,  felt  much  better  ;  and  brightened  : 
and  now,  in  the  height  of  his  revival,  was  seized  with  a 
passionate  desire  that  Miss  Wilkinson  should  see  the  Temple 
of  Edfu.  At  the  bank,  to  our  horrified  indignation,  a 
"  scene  "  took  place  :  a  donkey-man  had  lost  self-control : 
he  gave  himself  up  to  his  passion,  like  a  baby  ;  he  screamed, 
he  tore,  he  yelled  :  three  policemen  appeared,  and  joined 
in  the  hubbub.  Everybody  roared  at  once,  except  the 
donkeys,  who  looked  meekly  dignified  at  the  thought 
that  all  this  immense  noise  was  about  them  :  which  at  least 
raised  their  importance  in  the  world,  even  though  morally 
it  was  to  be  deplored.  Such  was  their  look,  as  far  as  I 
could  catch  it.     Rode  through  dusty  streets,  under  dirty 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"     187 

sky,  to  dull-brown  temple.  Fine  courts,  but  sunless  day  : 
Milbank  walls ;  depressing  weight  of  matter.  At  the  very 
crisis,  on  the  roof  of  the  innermost  shrine,  Mr.  Byron, 
who  had  joined  us,  broke  into  a  cry  straight  from  the  heart : 
"  I  do  hate  Egyptian  temples."  Bishop  strove  gallantly 
to  stem  the  tide  of  abuse  ;  but  it  remained  that  we  were 
impressed  with  the  mighty  failure  of  these  vast,  monotonous 
secresies.  Highly  intelligent  women  visit  us,  by  moon- 
light. Great  talk.  Bishop  secreted  by  a  lady :  gallant 
rescue  by  Miss  Gooch.  Peace.  Bed.  P.S. — Dreadful 
dusty  cloud  of  locusts  :  drifted  to  and  fro,  innumerable, 
and  awful. 

Wednesday,  Feb.  5. — A  day  of  dank  despair.  That  postal 
steamer,  long  expected,  entirely  refused  for  hours  to  turn 
up.  At  last,  far  down  the  river,  a  black  and  snorting 
speck.  The  postal  boat  at  last.  Out  with  the  felucca. 
Tudros  to  the  helm.  Eyes  strain :  hearts  beat  high. 
What  is  it  ?  An  uneasy  interchange  of  shouts  :  a  steamer 
puffing  defiance  in  our  faces  :  a  retreating  felucca :  a 
blank  Tudros  :  a  mail-less  company !  And  all  because 
our  bag  was  tied  up  inside  the  Assouan  bag,  and  could  not 
be  unsealed !  A  really  desperate  moment :  a  collapse : 
a  veil  drawn  over  our  dismay.  Oh,  Mr.  Cook  !  Mr.  Jeune 
Cook  !  Miss  Annie  Cook  !  Oh,  All  the  too  many  Cooks 
who  have  spoilt  our  broth.  Don't  come  too  near  us  just 
now  :  for  we  are  desperate. 

Thursday. — A  boisterous  north  wind.  We  are  reduced 
to  the  helpless  meandering  gait  of  the  waddling  and  in- 
competent goose.  The  boat  adopts  the  general  air  of  a 
portly  and  elderly  gentleman,  who,  having  gone  off  his  head, 
insisted  on  dreamily  dancing  a  quadrille  entirely  alone, 
with  benign  satisfaction  beaming  on  his  face,  and  with  an 
anxious  solemnity  in  the  performance  of  all  the  steps.  So 
we  sidle,  waddle,  back,  retire,  advance,  set  to  partners, 
bow,  turn,  chassez  to  right,  chassez  to  left,  cross,  down  the 
middle,  back  again,  set,  first  position  :  repeat  as  before. 
Finally,  we  accomplish  a  good  four  miles  :  and  retire  to 
sleep,  in  a  bank  of  lupins.  Tempers  very  fairly  preserved. 
Saturday  :  Esneh. — ^Temple  deep-sunk  :  grand  portico,  with 
miserable  detail.  Regrets,  that  it  cannot  be  utilised  for 
front  of  St.  Peter's,  Eaton  Square.  Bishop  anticipates 
floods  of  conversation  between  wide  pillars  after  morning 
prayer.     Dr.  Porter  retains  his  general  views  on  the  subject 


i88  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

of  Egyptian  architecture.     He  does  not  recommend  it  for 
universal  use  in  Charleston. 

Tuesday,  Feb.  lo. — Luxor  persists  in  its  moodiness. 
Just  as  before,  so  now  :  a  dull  leaden  English  sky  hangs 
over  the  dust-bin.  Rameses  the  Great  is  in,  and  disgorges 
its  multitudes,  amid  yells,  on  to  the  Thebes  shore,  where 
70  patient  asses  insert  themselves  beneath  their  destined 
burdens,  and  bear  off  lumps  of  heavy  Cooky  matter  towards 
the  west.  This  settles  us  for  Karnac.  Surely,  we  will 
kindle  to  its  magnificence.  Surely,  we  will,  now  at  last, 
be  adequate  to  our  opportunities.  Still,  Karnac  looked 
a  huge  desolate  heap  :  a  forlorn  mound  of  tumbled  rubbish. 
Obelisks  stuck  through  it,  like  fish-bones  in  a  curry.  They 
seemed  out  of  place  :  and  difficult  to  swallow.  The  Great 
Hall  still  looked  choked,  and  loaded,  and  cumbered.  We 
snatched  a  rare  and  partial  joy  from  the  one  fragment  of 
light  clerestory.  Round  and  about  the  temple,  the  mounds 
and  the  humps  of  the  villages  still  left  a  sense  of  dirty 
melancholy.  No,  the  great  impression  was  not  to  be  had. 
We  rode  home  a  little  disconsolate. 

In  the  night,  at  about  bed-time,  a  low  moan  crept 
round.  How  the  wind  is  rising  !  Before  we  know  how, 
it  is  a  hurricane,  rushing,  roaring,  tearing :  the  waves 
break  over  the  lower  deck  :  the  feluccas  toss  wildly  ;  the 
masts  groan :  the  men  are  all  out,  struggling  with 
ropes  and  chains  :  the  ladies  are  flitting  to  and  fro,  from 
creaking  cabin  to  groaning  saloon  :  the  old  barge  rises, 
and  bumps,  with  ominous  thuds  :  above  the  stars  shine 
clear.  A  really  tremendous  storm  :  but  the  Rais  sits  like 
a  toad,  without  a  sign  of  alarm  ;  and  at  last  falls  asleep 
with  the  chain  still  in  his  hand.  It  roars  away  till  3  oclock. 
Old  Tudros  looked  out  from  his  bed,  with  red  rag  tied  round 
his  head,  weird  and  awful.  "  Never,  doctor !  Never : 
never  !  "  He  had  never  seen  it  like  this.  It  was  an  event. 
The  men's  beds  were  soaked,  poor  things.  But  they  took 
it  with  habitual  good  cheer. 

Wednesday. — Pacha  Johnson  at  tea  :  told  of  his  capture, 
with  loss  of  men.  His  good  eyes  gleamed  with  distress. 
Thursday. — A  glorious  day  with  the  Kings  in  their  tombs  : 
Sethi  did  his  level  best  for  us  :  the  paintings  stood  the 
second  visit :  beautiful  gaiety  about  the  tomb  of  Rameses 
IX.  A  good  ending  to  Luxor  :  only,  alas  !  the  end,  too, 
of  Dr.   Porter.     He  was  left  for  the  postal  boat,  to  take 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"       189 

hini  to  Sinai,  Antioch,  Athens.  A  deep  grief  :  the  dear 
old  man  clung  to  the  ship,  full  of  parting  benediction  : 
could  not  tear  himself  off :  sat  lonely  on  the  bank  as  we 
unmoored  :  and  finally,  stood  upright  and  grey  against 
the  sky,  waving  and  waving  till  we  could  wave  no  longer. 
A  real  wrench,  this,  so  long  we  had  lived  together,  so  familiar 
the  companionship.  Sadly  we  missed  the  commanding 
figure  ;  we  have  no  fez  to  shake  at  Tudros,  now  :  the 
fine  grey  head,  with  its  dignified  story,  its  pathetic  past, 
kindles  no  more  over  old  moving  tales.  We  shall  miss 
him  much,  we  feel.  But  it  cannot  be  helped.  There  he 
stands,  far  away  on  the  dusty  Luxor  bank,  waving  his 
handkerchief,  a  white  square  in  the  wind.  Good-bye, 
Doctor  !     Good-bye  !     We  are  so  sorry  !     Good-bye  ! 

Friday. — We  fly  along  :  stopping  for  mosque  at  the 
Bishop's  request,  who  sees  his  flock  to  prayers.  They  wash  ; 
and  run— with  gaiety  and  vigour  :  but  Margaret  nourishes 
unworthy  suspicions,  having  caught  sight  of  pipes  and 
talk  at  the  mosque  door.  We  all  plead  for  Mohammedanism. 
Saturday. — Just  at  tea,  scudding  along  full  sail,  foaming 
at  the  bows,  came  the  Horus.  Our  felucca  hardly  could 
catch  hold  for  the  pace.  Yet  in  to  our  bank  they  gallantly 
turned,  and  stayed.  In  and  out  of  each  other's  dahabeahs 
we  popped,  drawing  odorous  comparisons.  They  were 
superb,  and  vast  :  we  cuddled  our  snug  old  homestead. 
But  ah !  Their  sketches !  !  crushing.  All  from  their 
having  rose-madder  !  Who  can  say  what  we  and  Margaret 
would  have  done  if  only  we  had  had  rose-madder  ? 

Tuesday,  Feb.  18.  It  relieves  us  to  find  that  our  old 
Pink  Ranges  have  not  been  crushed  by  Tawny  Assouan  : 
but  are  still  Pink  :  and  take  noble  colours  :  and  give  the 
old  wonderful  feeling  of  a  silent  motionless  watcher  who 
lies,  like  a  dumb  wondering  lion,  gazing  at  the  movement 
of  cultivated  life  on  the  green  strip,  unable  to  understand 
what  it  means,  and  too  astonished  even  to  devour  it  up. 
Sunsets,  too,  pull  themselves  together,  and  do  the  old 
trick  with  immense  success.  Art  revives :  Margaret  is 
at  work :  brushes  fly  about  :  yellows  and  reds  are  all 
aflame.  Wednesday. — By  gigantic  exertions,  we  made 
our  three  miles  :  and,  then,  the  wind  roared  :  and  we 
flew  to  embrace  the  ever-friendly  mud.  There  we  abode, 
through  the  day.  Thursday. — By  yet  more  splendid  efforts, 
we  succeed  in  getting  three  hundred  yards  on  our  way. 


igo  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Storm  :  hurricane.  Impossible.  Once  more,  the  identical 
bank  of  sociable  mud.  Bad,  indeed !  Most  interesting 
walk  through  the  same  village  as  yesterday  :  only  now,  we 
take  it  at  a  new  angle  :  this  lends  a  charming  sense  of 
variety  to  the  expedition.  We  all  begin  to  count  the 
miles  to  Cairo  :  and  to  sum  up  the  number  of  days  left  : 
and  to  look  thoughtful.  But  the  wind  roars  remorselessly. 
There  is  no  choice.     There  we  sit.     Good-night. 

Sunday,  Feb.  23  :  Ekmim. — The  Copts  bring  back 
cakes  as  a  tribute  of  affection  from  Bishop  to  Bishop. 
This  lays  obligations  :  we  start  off  to  fulfil  them  :  the  Bishop, 
Miss  Gooch,  Holland,  with  Tudros  glowing.  We  pass, 
in  triumphant  procession,  up  the  filthiest  streets,  with  the 
main  body  of  a  population  of  25,000  souls,  apparently, 
at  our  heels.  At  last,  in  the  heart  of  Copt  quarter,  we  step 
in,  under  a  large  red  doorway,  into  a  most  still  house  ; 
quiet  courts  in  deep  shadow  :  bits  of  Cairo  carving ;  all 
picturesque,  especially  the  terrific  smell.  We  are  led  to 
seats  in  a  dignified  little  alcove — in  a  peace  that  reminded 
us  of  Amen  Court.  Miss  Gooch,  who  had  remained  humbly 
secreted  in  passage,  was  ushered  forward  into  pride  of  place. 
(Our  Mussulman  sailor  was  let  in,  too  :  this  is  mentioned 
for  its  historic  interest,  7Vot  to  crush  Miss  Gooch.)  The  old 
man  is  supported  in  from  the  church  :  83  years  old — 
("  with  knees  worn  by  sitting,"  according  to  Tudros) — 
a  common  homely  type  but  very  kindly,  reverend,  worthy. 
Most  courteous  and  gentle :  the  attendants  stand  off, 
with  a  peculiar  charm  of  dignified  humility.  Coffee : 
cigarettes  :  we  fail  at  this  pinch  :  otherwise  all  goes  well. 
A  good  visit  altogether  :  leaving  a  pleasant  memory  of 
the  serious  and  tough  reality  of  this  most  ancient  Church 
which  no  force  of  Islam  has  had  the  power  to  erase.  There 
it  abides,  poor,  ignorant,  dirty,  but  unbroken.  One  of  the 
marked  nights  :  with  all  the  quiet  glory  of  Egypt  in  it. 

[During  the  next  fortnight,  from  Monday  Feb.  24  to 
Monday  March  10,  they  were  often  delayed  by  bad  weather 
and  the  north  wind  :  it  was  a  dull  time  :  and  the  fear  of 
missing  the  Orient  ship  at  Cairo  worried  them.  The  log 
was  written  up  till  March  9.  A  year  and  half  later,  in 
Scotland,  Holland  added  a  postscript.] 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"       191 

Culdees  (Aug.  1891) 

Here  occurs  a  yawning  abyss,  into  which  disappear, 
at  one  gulp,  a  whole  year  and  a  half — at  the  close  of  which 
the  poor  old  log,  now  balder  than  ever,  with  the  wrinkles 
of  age  on  its  withered  brow,  and  with  a  last  solitary  hair 
turning  slowly  grey,  beat  its  unhappy  brains  to  recall  the 
days  and  hours  at  which  the  final  crisis  made  itself  known, 
A  Highland  mist  hung  over  the  limpid  light  of  the  Egyptian 
desert :  and  only  in  vague  glimpses  could  the  log  catch 
sight  of  the  dim  past.  It  seemed  to  recollect  a  dullish 
Monday,  during  the  whole  of  which  the  stumpy  impertinence 
of  Sakharah  perversely  protruded  itself,  at  every  conceivable 
angle,  upon  our  unwilling  attention  :  and,  then,  on  Tuesday 
morning,  the  bomb  fell !  A  summons  from  the  shore 
revealed  a  Cook-man  in  ambush,  with  the  awful  news  that 
the  Orient  ship  was  three  days  ahead  of  her  date  :  and  might 
be  expected  at  Ismailia  by  Wednesday  !  !  Horrors  !  We 
are  still  25  miles  from  Cairo. 

Never  did  a  startled  alligator,  suddenly  conscious  of 
having  swallowed  six  tenpenny-nails,  look  more  dismayed 
than  Tudros,  as  he  broke  in  upon  us  with  the  disastrous 
intelligence.  His  grey  moustache  hung  damp  and  listless  : 
his  old  eyes  filled  with  dim  despair.  But  there  we  were. 
There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  pack  like  mad.  Two  figures 
stand  out  triumphant  and  supreme,  at  that  grim  hour. 
First,  the  Rais  :  black,  silent,  mysterious  :  but  resolute 
on  reaching  the  goal.  Never  yet  had  he  failed  :  somehow,  he 
looked  as  if  he  meant  it — and  he  did  !  Far  on  into  the 
dark,  he  kept  them  at  it :  we  slipped,  and  slid,  and  scraped, 
and  thudded  along  :  somehow,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  the 
long  reaches  vanished  :  and,  far  off  in  the  night,  we  found 
ourselves  tied  up  amid  the  lights  of  Cairo.  It  was  a 
magnificent  effort. 

And  then,  Dodson !  Dodson  the  victorious !  Hot  : 
large  :  florid  :  tempestuous  :  she  ranged  over  the  trunks, 
like  a  war-horse  :  things  vanished  into  boxes  at  her  crude 
but  masterful  touch  :  it  began  to  appear,  that  we  should 
really  get  packed. 

Early  Wednesday  morning,  we  moved  round  to  the 
eastern  bank,  and  lay  under  what  we  at  first  thought 
was  the  main  drain  of  Cairo  :  but  this  turned  out  to  be 
an   illusion.     Up   and   down   Cairo   we   caracoled :    Cook- 


192  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

comforted  by  the  news  that  the  ship  would  dally  till  Friday, 
and  that  we  might  shop  till  Thursday  evening,  and  then 
start  by  a  train  that  afterwards  turned  out  to  be  intended 
for  cattle  chiefly.  So  we  trotted  :  and  got  gold  :  and  spent 
it. 

And  still  Dodson  packed ;  with  ribbons  streaming  in 
the  wind ;  with  loud  cries  :  with  immense  resolution — 
a  tempestuous  whirlwind  in  petticoats.  And  the  ladies 
were,  throughout,  indomitable.  Alas  !  the  beloved  coverings 
of  the  saloon  had  to  be  torn  down  :  we  did  not  recognise 
our  home  :  all  was  ugliness  and  confusion. 

The  final  moment  was  backsheesh :  all  backsheesh. 
No  coarse  or  casual  tips,  but  a  scientific  process,  delicately 
and  subtly  graduated  as  the  tints  in  Margaret's  sunsets. 
The  Bishop  sat  in  solemn  dignity  in  the  midst ;  and  shook 
hands  with  each  in  turn.  We  think  that  a  faint  tear  stood 
in  the  Old  Lady's  eye  :  she  had  begged  for  a  testimonial, 
and  we  had  with  difficulty  composed  one  for  her  in  the 
masculine  gender :  we  refrained  from  mentioning  the 
inane  smile  with  which  she  would  take  us  into  the  bank. 
The  dear  Rais  glowed  blacker  and  blacker  with  emotion. 
The  crew  counted  their  coins  carefully  before  grinning 
thanks.  There  was  a  slight  question  as  to  whether  the  two 
washermen  were  thoroughly  pleased  :  but  we  tried  to  fancy 
that  it  was  a  fear  of  breaking  down  that  kept  them  silent. 
Tudros  looked  haggard  and  anxious  till  all  was  over  :  and 
murmured,  "  Doctor,  the  letter :  the  letter.  Doctor." 
We  never  knew  what  it  was  to  convey — this  letter  :  whether 
it  was  a  detailed  account  of  the  status  and  difficulties  of 
the  Ancient  Coptic  Church,  or  a  summary  of  the  more 
urgent  wants  of  Tudros'  youngest  infant.  The  mystery 
is  still  unsolved  :  for  the  letter  has  not  yet  arrived. 

At  last,  on  Thursday  evening,  we  dragged  ourselves 
out  of  the  beloved  old  ship.  For  three  months,  it  had  been 
our  home  ;  in  fair  weather,  and  in  foul ;  in  the  wind,  and 
on  the  mud ;  flying  south,  and  waddling  north.  Sun  and 
stars  had  walked  round  and  round  us  as  we  floated  ;  and, 
always,  we  had  loved  the  kindly  and  comfortable  barge. 
For  three  months,  it  had  been  to  us  as  a  floating  fairy- 
house,  cut  off  from  all  the  harsh  necessities  of  responsible 
dry-land.  It  had  been  to  us  all  like  nothing  else  in  the 
world — a  separated  period — which  we  alone,  who  had 
been  in  it,  could  ever  know,  or  understand. 


"THE  LOG  OF  THE  WATER-LOGGED"        193 

"  How  dull  it  must  have  been  !  "  So  we  hear  ignorant 
people  say  :  and  we  smile  to  ourselves,  but  we  cannot 
tell  them  why.  Only  we  recall  the  long  endless  reaches 
of  broad  flowing  waters  :  and  the  ring  of  jolly  black  grins  : 
and  the  grey  haunted  eyes  of  Tudros  :  and  the  Rais' 
gleaming  teeth,  as  "  Good  morning  "  broke  from  his  black 
face  :   and 

In  and  out  the  dear  old  barge 
The  bubbles  of  our  merry  Marge — 

and,  behind  Marge's  sun-bonnet,  there  is  the  yellow  desert, 
with  the  pink  glow,  and  the  wide  sky.  And  we  know  that 
all  this  will  never  be  again  :  and  our  hearts  are  very  sad, 
and  very  grateful,  as  we  look  back  at  the  old  boat,  under 
the  bank  at  Cairo,  and  say,  for  the  last  time, 

Good-night.     Good-bye.     Good-night. 

So  many  cares,  anxieties,  prayers,  have  been  shared  in 
common,  within  that  floating  homestead :  and  there 
are  memories  too  of  quiet  communions,  while  the  river 
slid  past  the  cabin-windows  almost  without  a  sound.  Yes, 
there  is  much  to  remember  :  we  have  been  sad,  and  glad, 
together  :  and  now,  it  is  over. 

Good-bye,  old  Boat.    Good-bye. 


IV 

1890  TO   1903 
189O-189I 

They  came  back  by  Naples,  and  were  in  Rome  for  Easter, 
1890  : 

All  the  streets  and  churches  are  just  where  they  used 
to  be  :  and  the  Pincian  has  not  moved  an  inch.  I  enjoy 
sauntering  about.  It  seems  very  Emropean :  and  close 
home.  I  think  we  shall  stop  on  over  Holy  Week,  unless 
the  women  besiege  the  Bishop  too  hotly  :  if  so,  we  must 
take  up  our  baggage  and  iiy  in  the  night.  All  the  world 
is  gadding  and  gushing.  I  never  saw  the  Pyramids  again  !  ! 
so  I  can  never  face  my  relations.  I  never  saw  the  Coptic 
Cathedral  at  Cairo :  so  I  never  dare  meet  Liddon !  I 
cannot  be  at  Gayton — or  at  Amen  Court.  I  shall  take 
rooms  at  the  Salisbury  Hotel :  and  hover  about  in  disguise. 

He  writes  to  Dr.  Creighton  on  his  appointment  to  be 
Bishop   of   Peterborough :    they  had  been   in  Cambridge         I 
together,  the  day  before  the  appointment  was  announced  : — 

So  the  dumb  thing  was  sitting  inside  you  all  the  time  !  j 
I  am  really  very  glad  indeed.  There  will  be  a  good  deal,  ^ 
I  fear,  to  curb  and  block  you,  against  which  you  will  kick  : 
but  you  will  find  much  that  draws  out  the  warmest  and 
tenderest  things  in  you.  Something  touching  and  pathetic 
in  simple  folk  struggling  along,  with  immense  efforts  and 
pains,  to  achieve  tiny  results — something  doing  in  odd 
corners,  behind  the  door — something  of  children  in  nooky 
churches — all  will  be  brought  near  to  you ;    and  you  will 

194 


1890  TO  1903  195 

be  to  it  as  a  jet  of  wonderful  light :  and  you  will  be  half 
sad,  half  glad  to  think  that  a  kind  word  from  you  can  do 
so  much  that  becomes  historical  in  these  little  out  of  the 
way  nests  and  can  win  eternal  gratitude.  A  Bishop  has 
a  delightful  way  of  going  about  giving  blessings,  cheering 
up,  opening  churches  and  porches  and  windows  and  organs  ; 
and  flags  fly,  and  everybody  is  in  a  bustle,  and  he  has 
only  got  to  be  decently  sympathetic  and  gentle,  and  all  is 
done  !     God  be  with  you  always. 

In  June  of  this  year,  1890,  the  holy  party  had  its  first 
meeting  at  Longworth,  Berkshire,  12  miles  from  Oxford ; 
where  Illingworth  was  rector.  Here  they  met  each  year, 
till  1915,  the  year  of  Illingworth's  death.*  The  name  which 
Holland  had  invented  for  them  fell  into  disuse ;  and  they 
called  the  party  ' '  Lux, "  or  "  Longworth. ' '  The  daily  life  was 
the  same  :  except  that  the  times  of  silence  were  remitted. 
There  is  a  full  account  of  these  meetings,  in  the  Life  of 
Illingworth.  Holland  grudged  the  loss  of  one  of  them  : 
"  I  keep  thinking  of  you  all,"  he  writes  to  Richmond, 
"  and  of  all  the  happy  regularities  of  the  perennial  drama  : 
the  slow  saunters  to  church,  trailing  through  the  roses  and 
the  hay  :  the  chatter  of  the  evenings,  with  Mrs.  I.  curled 
up  in  a  window-seat :  the  long-suffering  plaintains  on  the 
lawn,  prodded  by  Roffen  in  the  agonies  of  debate — delicious, 
all !  If  you  want  to  feed  my  soul,  would  you  be  a  brick, 
and  write  me  your  thoughts  on  the  talks :  how  they 
went,  and  what  was  in  the  spirit.  It  would  be  good  of 
you." 

*  The  East  window  in  the  church,  Heywood  Sumner's  work,  was  given 
by  them  in  1900  to  commemorate  their  tenth  meeting.  "  I  was  at  Oxford," 
Holland  writes  to  him,  "  and  ran  over  to  Longworth  and  saw  the  window. 
It  was  quite  beautiful:  so  fresh  and  simple  and  green  and  quiet,  yet 
flooding  the  httle  white  rabbit  of  a  church  with  rich  solemnities.  The 
opalescent  changes  in  the  glass  spaces  are  delicious  ;  and  it  lives  and 
speaks  in  varying  tones,  and  down  every  side  of  the  church.  And  you 
feel  the  country  through  it,  pouring  in  from  outside  and  taking  on  a  divine 
touch  as  it  enters," 


196  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

In  the  autumn  of  1890,  he  founded  the  Junior  Clergy 
Missionary  Association.     Prebendary  Isaacs  writes  : — 

The  first  meeting,  of  just  half-a-dozen  of  the  younger 
clergy,  was  held  in  his  study  in  Amen  Court.  The  Associa- 
tion has  now  become  a  great  federation  of  Associations, 
and  has  proved  itself  one  of  the  very  greatest  forces  in 
the  rekindling  and  stimulating  of  missionary  interest  in 
the  Church  of  England.  The  whole  movement  owes  its 
origin,  or  certainly  its  first  send-off,  to  his  enthusiasm  and 
guidance.  The  venerable  S.P.G.  was  felt  by  some  of  us 
younger  men  to  be  too  venerable  in  its  methods.  Its 
Annual  Meeting,  for  instance,  was  held  in  the  old  St.  James's 
HaU,  at  the  eminently  respectable  hour  of  2.30.  There 
was  no  attempt  to  kindle  enthusiasm.  And  most  of  its 
methods  were,  like  its  literature,  deadly  dull.  We  felt 
that  there  was  little  to  create  a  vision  in  the  younger  clergy. 
We  could  not  dictate  to  our  elders,  but  we  could  set  to 
work  to  "  enthuse  "  ourselves. 

The  Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Temple)  at  first  was  cautious. 
He  was  not  sure  that  the  movement  was  not  in  the  nature 
of  an  attack  on  the  elder  generation.  He  hesitated,  for 
the  moment,  to  give  it  his  support.  Then  Canon  Holland 
went  and  saw  him.  And  ever  after,  the  Bishop  was  our 
truest  and  most  generous  supporter.  He  came  to,  and 
spoke  at,  our  inaugural  meeting  (1891).  We  began  with  a 
great  popular  evening  meeting,  in  the  old  Exeter  Hall. 
Archbishop  Benson  presided  :  and  so  great  was  the  crowd 
that  he  had  to  be  escorted  up  the  stairs  by  the  police, 
and  an  overflow  meeting  had  to  be  arranged  in  the  Hall 
of  King's  College.  Of  course  we  had  the  one  who  had  so 
inspired  the  movement  as  one  of  our  principal  speakers. 
And  year  after  year  he  came  and  spoke  at  those  Exeter 
Hall  meetings.  I  have  a  report  of  his  address  at  our  first 
meeting  before  me  as  I  write.  And  how  true,  in  the  light 
of  the  events  of  today,  are  his  words  spoken  then  :  "It 
is  the  home  people  who  decide  what  the  impress  of  England 
shall  be  on  the  story  of  the  world." 

Besides  his  work  for  the  Junior  Clergy  Missionary  Associa- 
tion, there  is  his  work  for  the  Universities'  Mission  to  Central 
Africa.     He  was  Chairman,  for  eighteen  years,  of  its  evening 


iSgo  TO  1903  197 

Annual  Meeting  :   and  he  so  won  the  love  of  his  audiences 
that  they  will  never  forget  what  he  did  for  them. 

At  first,  in  the  earlier  years,  when  all  speaking  for  missions 
was  expected  to  be  solemn,  he  had  not  found  it  easy  to  be 
fervent  over  them,  or  to  impart  fervour  to  a  cold  audience. 
He  needed  for  his  appeal  not  a  pulpit  and  a  silent  congre- 
tion,  but  a  public  meeting,  and  the  relief  of  light-hearted 
talk.  He  writes  to  a  friend,  of  this  difficulty  which  he  felt 
early  in  his  life  : — 

The  coldness  you  speak  of  is  really  so  deadly  that  one 
is  forced  to  seek  out  warmth,  and  to  make  the  atmosphere 
warm  for  oneself  about  missions,  and  this  is  apt  to  feel 
artificial  and  unnatural — yet  it  must  be  done,  I  think  : 
for,  unless  one  plunges  one's  head  now  and  then  into  the 
missionary  water,  and  by  forgetting  all  else  and  shutting 
one's  eyes,  makes  at  intervals  that  which  is  only  a  basonful 
appear  like  a  great  sea,  one  could  never  keep  the  real  faith 
which  one's  religion  forces  upon  one,  alive.  It  is  really 
only  an  intenser  form  of  the  difficulty  of  believing  in  God, 
in  an  atmosphere  of  silent  suspicion  at  His  existence. 
Faith  compels,  against  sight ;  and  I  can  say,  "  If  I  believe 
anything  at  all,  I  believe,  with  it,  all  that  missionarism 
involves  "  :  and  this  is  faith,  to  hold  fast  to  God,  in  spite 
of  darkness  and  doubtfulness  and  coldness. 


1891 

This  year,  he  and  Mr.  W.  S.  Rockstro  published  their 
"  Memoir  of  Madame  Jenny  Lind-Goldschmidt :  her  early 
art-life  and  dramatic  career,  1820-1851."  (Two  volumes. 
John  Murray.  1891.)  Three  editions  were  brought  out 
in  1891  :  and  an  abridged  edition,  in  one  volume,  in  1893. 
It  was  translated  into  Swedish  (1891)  by  J.  R.  Spilhammer. 

In  the  autumn  of  1891,  he  was  at  Hawarden  ;  with 
Lord  Rosebery,  Mr.  Herbert  Gladstone,  Sir  Algernon  West, 
and  Miss  Mary  Crum  :  he  gave  an  address  to  men,  in  the 


igS  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

gymnasium  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Drew  had  instituted  in 
the  village.  "  We  had  a  very  successful  meeting  in  the 
gymnasium,  and  it  was  a  great  joy  to  speak  to  the  men. 
Then  we  had  a  superb  exhibition  in  the  gym,  eight  Liverpool 
heroes  over,  performing  magnificent  and  most  thrilling 
feats.  The  old  man  came,  charged  with  earnest  attention. 
He  was  wonderfully  noble,  and  dignified,  and  simple : 
very  old,  but  full  of  splendid  force,  with  his  eye  flashing 
and  thunders  in  his  voice.  He  is  absorbed  in  his  new  Library. 
I  had  a  good  walk  with  him  alone  ;  and  talk  in  plenty." 

To  his  Mother 

Oct.  6,  1891.  Hams,  Birmingham. — ^This  is  not  a  birth- 
day letter,  but  only  one  of  love,  such  as  might  belong  to 
any  day  in  the  year  :  for  all  days  are  the  same  to  our  love 
for  you,  dearest :  our  own  mother,  the  one  blessed  name 
which  has  in  it  a  sound  such  as  no  other  name  can  ever 
have.  And  into  the  name,  which  is  itself  so  blessed,  you 
have  brought  blessing,  and  made  it  sound  to  us  so  full  of 
beloved  meaning,  such  as  few  children  can  know ;  and  we 
thank  you  for  all  this,  and  thank  God  for  you.  And  now 
as  the  years  grow  heavy,  we  long  so  to  encompass  you  about 
with  comfort  and  to  ease  the  road  with  our  affection  :  and 
to  assure  you  again  and  again  of  the  fondness  that  watches 
about  you,  and  clings  to  you,  and  feels  you  still  the  centre 
of  the  home-life,  whom  we  could  not  bear  to  lose. 

So  dear  it  was  to  have  you  all  that  time  in  my  house  ! 
It  is  a  delightful  privilege  to  have  a  place  in  which  to  make 
you  a  home.  Oh,  if  we  could  walk  on  together,  you  with 
us,  till  the  end.  So  long  we  have  been  allowed  to  keep 
the  ring  unbroken.  I  dare  think  of  nothing  that  will 
shatter  it.  Only,  the  Love  of  God  is  stronger  than  Death. 
He  will  hold  us  fast.     God  keep  370U,  my  own  dearest. 

In  December,  the  ring  was  broken,  by  the  sudden  death 
of  his  father.  "  He  had  had  a  nasty  accident,"  Holland 
writes  to  Richmond,  "  and  we  all  came  home  :  but  that  was 
clearing — when  his  heart  gave  way,  and  in  a  moment  he 


iSgo  TO   1903  199 

had  passed  away.  He  was  75,  and  was  failing  :  but  it 
is  the  very  first  death  in  our  family  circle  :  and  that  gives 
it  such  intense  meaning  to  us  all.  And  he  was  so  full  of 
life,  and  character,  and  affection  :  a  very  marked  person 
in  our  lives."  And  to  Adderley,  "  When  do  you  expect 
me  ?  I  feel  as  if  it  were  no  earthly  use  to  preach,  or  do 
anything.  Do  you  know  how  miserably  rich  I  shall  be  ? 
It  is  like  a  nightmare  to  me.  I  can't  think  what  to  do. 
The  whole  problem  begins.  I  had  so  hoped  to  die  without 
a  penny  at  my  bank  :  and  earning  all  I  had.  But  I  shall 
have  to  think,  now,  very  seriously.  It  adds  to  my  great 
sorrow  greatly  :  I  do  so  loathe  it." 

1892-1894 

In  August,  1892,  came  the  news  of  Nettleship's  death 
on  Mont  Blanc  *  : — 

To  Dr.  Talbot 

Gayton  Lodge.  Aug.  1892.  I  can  think  of  nothing 
but  that  white  silent  body  waiting  for  its  burial,  under 

*  He  and  two  guides  started,  on  Aug.  24th,  at  the  very  end  of  his 
hoHday,  to  make  the  ascent  by  way  of  the  Aiguille  and  the  Dome  du 
Goflter.  In  the  afternoon,  there  was  a  heavy  storm  ;  and  they  lost  their 
way.  About  5  o'clock,  they  dug  a  shelter  in  the  snow,  to  pass  the  night 
in.  Through  the  night,  they  tried  to  keep  themselves  awake  by  talking  ; 
he  sang  them  an  English  song ;  and  urged  them  to  eat.  About  8  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  he  opened-up  the  shelter  with  his  ice-axe,  saying,  "  II 
faut  faire  quelquechose :  mourir  i^i,  ce  serait  mourir  en  laches :  il  faut 
essayer  de  sortir."  Then,  "  AUons."  They  roped  themselves,  and  moved 
on  for  about  an  hour :  then  he  cried  and  fell.  They  raised  him,  holding 
him  by  his  arms,  and  rubbing  him.  They  asked  him  what  was  the  matter, 
but  he  did  not  answer  them :  he  struck  his  forehead,  and  began  speaking 
EngUsh  loud.  They  tried  to  give  him  wine,  but  he  said  loudly,  "  Oh  no  :  " 
and  when  they  offered  it  again,  he  shook  his  head.  He  held  out  a  hand 
to  each,  and  pressed  their  hands  very  hard.  Gaspard  Simond  said  to  him, 
"  Au  revoir ;  dans  un  moment,  c'est  k  nous."  Alfred  Comte  said,  "  Au 
revoir.  Monsieur;  tout  k  I'heure."  He  went  on  talking  for  some  little 
time;  "pour  se  recommander  k  Dieu,"  Gaspard  Simond  thought,  "  j'ai 
cm  que  c'etait  une  chose  comme  cela  comme  si  il  voulait  prier  "  :  Alfred 


200  HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND 

the  snows.  It  is  such  a  strange  end  for  him — he  who  never 
made  a  mistake,  or  got  into  a  wrong  place,  or  did  the  wrong 
thing,  or  slipped  into  any  unsteadiness,  or  caused  trouble. 
He  was  so  reliable  :  he  was  sure  to  come  through  everything 
right.  Then,  he  was  so  bent  on  never  making  himself 
out  heroic,  or  tragic.  He  would  never  startle  anybody ; 
or  rouse  interest ;  or  evoke  sympathy.  He  would  always 
abhor  doing  anything  that  made  demands  on  other  people. 
And  now,  there  comes  to  him  this  striking,  terrible,  lonely 
tragedy.  It  is  horrible  to  me  to  think  of  that  day  and  night : 
it  must  have  been  ghastly.     I  long  to  know  more. 

Where  the  intimacy  has  been  so  close  it  cannot  ever 
grow  under  the  cloud  of  difference.  But  the  old  sense  of 
it  never  failed  on  his  side,  or  mine.  And  he  was  so  loyal, 
and  so  supremely  noble,  with  such  high  delicacy.  ...  I 
cannot  tell  what  he  finally  thought  of  Christ.  I  am  given 
to  accepting  a  fixed  position,  and  not  expecting  it  to  alter. 
The  line  of  thought  which  sometimes  disturbed  me  in  him 
was  a  sort  of  spiritual  fatalism.  But  I  know  few  whom 
one  could  leave  so  quietly  to  the  mercy  of  God. 


Toward  the  end  of  1892,  he  published  a  volume  of 
sermons,  under  the  title  "  Pleas  and  Claims  for  Christ." 
(Longmans,  pp.  x,  323.) 

In  August,  1893,  Lawrence  Holland  died.  In  some 
ways,  the  brothers  were  not  unlike  :  but  Lawrence  was 
hard  to  know  :  he  was  held  back  by  a  rather  unsociable 
and  abrupt  manner.  The  key  to  him  was  Shakespeare  : 
to  know  him,  people  must  hear  him  recite,  and  watch  him 
act.  The  Holland  Hall,  in  memory  of  him,  at  Oxford 
House,  Bethnal  Green,  was  opened  in  1894  :    he  had  for 

Comte  thought  the  same  :  but  they  said  they  could  not  really  tell  at 
all  what  he  was  talking  about.  He  continued  doing  this  till  suddenly 
his  eyes  closed,  and  he  was  dead.  The  guides  at  first  thought  of  sitting 
and  dying  beside  him,  then  roused  themselves,  marked  the  place  with  his 
ice-axe,  and  pushed  on  at  haphazard.  About  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
a  gust  of  wind  shifted  the  clouds,  and  showed  them  Mont  Blanc  :  and  they 
made  their  way  to  the  Cabane  des  Bosses.  On  the  26th,  his  body  was 
found  ;  it  was  buried  at  Chamonix.  (These  notes  on  his  death  were  made, 
from  accounts  given  by  the  guides,  by  his  friend  Mr.  Godfrey  R.  Benson.) 


1890  TO   1903  201 

many  years  helped  the  Oxford  House  dramatic  society. 
He  not  only  had  by  heart  some  ten  or  twelve  of  Shakespeare's 
plays,  so  that  he  could  give  a  two-hours'  recital  of  any  one 
of  them — his  recital  of  Antony  and  Cleopatra  was  admirable 
— he  also  was  a  critic  and  a  student.  Some  of  his  published 
essays  on  Shakespeare  were  reprinted  in  book-form,  after 
his  death,  with  a  preface  by  Scott  Holland.  Another 
great  interest  of  his  life  was  in  the  volunteer  service.  He 
died  of  heat-stroke  during  the  Aldershot  manoeuvres  of 
1893  ;  and  received  the  honour  of  a  military  funeral. 

To  Dr.  Talbot 

Gayton  Lodge.  Aug.  21,  1893. — Once  again,  as  with  my 
father's  sudden  death,  the  sight,  the  neighbourhood,  the 
affectionate  intimacy,  have  all  served  to  diminish  the  fear, 
to  make  it  seem  but  a  little  thing. 

That  quick  short  sigh  :  that  ending  of  all  that  was 
painful,  and  sobbing,  and  strained :  that  slipping  out, 
with  a  look  of  relief  and  gentleness  :  that  half-amused 
content  on  the  quiet  face  at  the  moment  it  is  over — 
all  serve  to  give  instinctive  continuity  to  the  life  that  has 
gone. 

It  is  just  what  it  was.  It  has  gone  round  the  corner  : 
in  our  midst :  while  we  kneel  round,  and  touch  it.  So  close 
it  must  be  !  Just  in  the  other  room  !  Without  surprise, 
it  is  there.  It  is  hid  :  that  is  all.  This  seems  to  me  over- 
whelming as  a  conviction.  Only  as  you  draw  away  from 
closeness  to  the  actual  scene  can  you  think  of  what  it  means 
to  doubt  it.  Only — the  very  force  of  this  conviction  does 
make  the  silence  more  dreadful,  more  impossible.  That 
appalling  silence  of  the  poor  body  :  it  feels  almost  wilful, 
ahnost  wicked. 

Yet  the  body  has  the  most  amazing  air  of  security 
about  it.  It  carries  peace  with  it :  so  smiling,  so  dignified, 
so  assured,  it  lies  on  there.  You  cannot  look  at  it  and  not 
recover  some  calm.  It  seems  to  pledge  you  everything  : 
so  full  of  benediction  :  sealed  into  silence  and  peace.  All 
your  trouble  and  wailing  becomes  like  a  childish  matter, 
which  it  is  too  tender  to  rebuke,  but  which  it  is  waiting 


202  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

to  laugh  over  on  some  future  day ;    like  we  do  over  the 
passionate  tears  of  a  child. 

He  lay  so  like  a  soldier  :  all  the  soldier  in  him  came 
out.  And  then  came  this  marvellous  military  funeral. 
I  have  never  seen  anything  so  beautiful  and  noble  :  and 
for  him,  with  whom  soldiering  was  an  enthusiastic  passion, 
it  was  wonderful.  He  would  have  died  any  day,  to  win 
that  burial.  .  .  .  All  was  like  a  splendid  triumph  :  and  to 
my  mother,  with  her  soldier  heart,  it  was  a  triumph  all  the 
way.  Every  nerve  and  fibre  in  the  dear  old  boy's  heart 
would  have  tingled  with  the  victory  of  it.  After  all,  he 
was  a  soldier  ;  and  had  died  for  his  Queen.  We  can  never 
forget  the  lift  of  it :  and  the  touching  affection  of  his  men, 
and  their  reverence,  and  their  loyalty. 

Other  letters,  about  this  time,  are  concerned  with 
industrial  affairs  :  the  minimum  wage,  and  the  miners' 
strike  in  1894  : — 

To  Dr.  Talbot.  Sept.  1893. — Can  you  get  Wakefield 
or  Ripon  to  understand  that  the  crucial  question  for  the 
men  is  solely  whether  the  wage  is  one  on  which  it  is  possible 
to  live  and  save  ?  This  is  what  we  can  demand  for  them  : 
or  they  for  themselves.  This  lies  outside  arbitration. 
There  are  no  subtleties  about  it.  Wages  ought  not  to  drop 
below  it.  The  market  ought  to  recognise  an  adequate 
minimum  :  and  to  adapt  itself  to  that.  What  are  the 
dividends  at  ?  What  are  the  contracts  with  the  railways  ? 
They  must  yield  to  the  necessity  of  providing  the  adequate 
wage.  It  is  very  vital  that  this  should  be  seen  to  be  the 
question  at  issue.  It  is  human,  moral,  "  Christian,"  to 
ask  for  this.     A  Bishop  might  speak  out  on  it. 

To  Adderley.  1894.  An  industrial  question  ought 
not  to  be  determined  by  so  fierce  and  terrible  a  weapon 
as  starvation  of  women  and  children.  War  itself  would 
strive  to  avoid  winning  by  such  means.  The  men  lose  heavily 
enough  if  they  are  wrong  :  without  this  horror  added.  It 
simply  puts  them  outside  competition  :  for  no  one  can 
compete  without  a  possibility  of  refusing  to  agree.  Starva- 
tion onl}^  affects  one  side  in  the  competition  :  and  destroys 
all  power  of  choice.  It  will  be  a  great  thing  if  you  can  do 
something,  by  taking  the  plain  line  of  relief.     Whatever  the 


iSgo  TO   1903  203 

rights  or  wrongs  of  the  struggle,  you  can  claim  that  the 
conflict  should  be  kept  within  its  proper  industrial  limits, 
and  should  not  spread  over  into  the  savagery  of  a  barbarous 
war  that  lays  its  hands  on  women  and  children. 

This  letter  was  to  Adderley  as  editor  of  "  Goodwill,"  the 
magazine  which  Holland  and  he  announced  in  1894 — "  a 
parish  magazine,  which  shall  deliver  the  strong  and  simple 
Gospel  of  the  Incarnation  in  its  Catholic  fulness  ;  and  which 
shall,  therefore,  include  within  its  scope  the  interests, 
anxieties,  and  aspirations  of  the  labouring,  and  the  poor. 
It  will  not  attempt  a  political  propaganda  of  any  kind  : 
but  it  will  assume  that  everything  that  has  to  do  with  the 
fortunes  of  those  who  labour,  is  within  the  range  of  its 
sympathies  and  its  consideration."  There  was  to  be  a  serial 
story  :  "I  am  rather  alarmed  about  the  story.  We  must 
purge  twaddle.  It  ought  to  be  a  strong  honest  story,  real 
and  frank,  with  no  moral,  interesting  for  itself,  and  helpful 
by  being  what  it  is.  Sprinkle  good  mottoes  about,  and  bits 
of  good  poetry,  just  to  break  it  up."  Adderley  was  editor 
of  Goodwill  for  sixteen  years. 

Holland  published,  in  1894,  "  God's  City :  and  the  Coming 
of  the  Kingdom."  (Longmans,  1894,  pp.  342.)  The  four 
addresses  on  "  God's  City  "  were  given  at  St.  Asaph,  to 
the  Bishop  and  clergy  of  the  diocese. 

In  Sept.  1894,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Talbot,  on  the  difhculties 
of  the  Christian  Social  Union  : — 


You  were  tolerant  of  much  more  than  my  "  Socialism," 
which,  indeed,  I  am  too  fagged  to  rise  to.  The  thing  has 
got  too  hard  and  big  to  face,  when  once  spirits  are  low. 
You  were  tolerant  of  this  slackness  in  me,  and  of  my  sterility 
and  dulness.  As  to  what  you  ask,  I  own  that  I  have  been 
and  am  oppressively  anxious  over  the  Social  Union,  etc. 
The  problems  are  deepening  fast  :  and  we  do  not  know 
where  we  are. 


204  HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND 

Adderley  is  always  good  and  helpful,  and  has  never 
made  difficulties  for  me.  I  rely  on  him  much  :  and  every- 
thing he  takes  up  comes  off  in  a  mysterious  way,  with 
brimming  success.  Dearmer  is  personally  most  loyal : 
and  nice  in  every  way.  Still,  of  course,  he  is  extreme. 
He  has,  on  the  whole,  been  wonderfully  good. 

But  this  is  a  set  who  are  most  annoying,  partly  cracky, 
partly  fervid.  They  always  talk ;  they  lose  their  heads 
nearly  always.  They  shock  the  "  Respectables,"  yet  are 
not  bad  enough  for  me,  as  Chairman,  to  sit  upon.  At 
least,  I  have  not  exactly  done  this. 

The  Respectables  lie  so  low :  they  never  show  what 
they  think  :  they  will  not  speak.  I  do  not  know  who 
they  are,  or  what  they  expect.  I  cannot  get  them  on  to 
the  Committee,  because  they  are  silent  and  unforward. 
So  we  of  the  Committee  find  ourselves  hopelessly  out  of 
touch  with  our  public. 

I  am  far  too  ignorant  and  untrained  for  the  work. 
And  there  is  a  great  deal  to  do  :  it  tires  me  out.  Yet  I 
have  absolutely  no  one  to  hand  it  over  to.  In  my  mild 
sort  of  way,  I  just  serve  to  mediate  :  that  is  all.  I  suppose 
light  will  come. 

Still,  in  1895,  the  Christian  Social  Union  had  twenty- 
seven  Branches,  with  a  total  membership  of  more  than 
2600.  A  General  Council  had  been  instituted,  with  an 
Executive  Committee  :  and  the  parent  Society  had  become 
"  the  London  Branch,"  that  there  might  be  no  jealousy 
between  London  and  Oxford.  The  Report  for  1895  says 
of  the  Oxford  Branch,  which  was  founded  in  Nov.  1889, 
"  It  has  published  six  pamphlets,  seventeen  leaflets,  and  four 
volumes  of  the  Economic  Review.  Considerable  practical 
results  have  followed  from  the  action  of  the  Branch  in 
regard  to  the  conditions  of  work  in  various  local  trades." 
The  London  Branch  had  published  books,  reports,  and 
pamphlets :  and  had  arranged  reading-circles,  lectures, 
and  little  relief -funds.  Other  Branches  had  "  taken  public 
action  either  to  influence  local  authorities  or  to  educate 
public  opinion."     The  London  Branch,  also,  in  Lent  1894 


1895 


[A.  H.  Fry,  Brighton 


iSgo   TO   1903  205 

and  1895,  had  organised  courses  of  sermons  in  London 
churches.  These  sermons  were  pubHshed  in  book-form, 
with  introductions  by  Holland,  under  the  titles  "  Lombard 
Street  in  Lent  "  (1894  :  new  and  revised  edition,  1911)  ; 
and  "A  Lent  in  London"  (1895).  His  introduction  to 
"  Lombard  Street  in  Lent  "  is  of  special  importance  to 
students  of  his  Christian  Social  teaching. 

He  writes  to  Adderley,  after  the  General  Election  of  1895  : 

1.  Down  goes  the  middle-class  Radicalism  :  and  the 
Nonconformist  conscience.  They  lie  smashed  in  ruins. 
How  shall  we  do  without  them  ?  It  will  be  an  immense  and 
most  perilous  shifting  of  centres.  The  field  is  open  for  the 
Church,  as  never  before.  But  then,  the  road  of  gradual 
and  peaceful  evolution  has  been  made  impossible.  The 
process,  now,  will  be  revolutionary  and  violent,  unless  some 
kindlier  human  judgment  comes  to  the  rescue.  And  this 
will  make  it  far  harder  for  the  Church.  I  sit  in  dread. 
Your  "  Merrie  Englands  "  have  no  conception  of  the  inherent 
Conservatism  of  the  English,  or  of  the  tremendous  forces 
of  reaction  that  will  be  set  in  motion,  if  once  a  positive 
move  is  made  from  the  Socialist  side. 

2.  I  cannot  write  about  the  LL.P.  without  abusing 
the  Conservative  Party  in  a  way  that  Goodwill  could  not 
stand.  My  bitter  complaint  is,  that  they  [the  Independent 
Labour  Party]  have  wiped  out  both  themselves  and  all 
the  Labour  Party  :  they  have  ceased  to  exist.  They  have 
handed  England  over  to  the  strongest  Government  of 
property  and  capital  and  individualism  which  has  been 
seen  for  a  century.  They  have  annihilated  aU  the 
sympathetic  Radicalism  that  could  mitigate  the  roaring 
individualism  of  property.  They  have  recklessly  and 
thanklessly  and  barbarously  ignored  the  forward  action 
of  the  late  Ministry,  and  have  shut  their  eyes  tight  and 
fast  to  the  enormous  resistance  which  any  forward  attempt 
is  bound  to  meet  from  the  immense  Conservatism  of  the 
English  people.  They  have  made  no  allowances  for  others' 
difficulties  :  and  have  been  passionately  bitter  and  angry 
in  their  language.  Labour,  now,  is  without  a  vote  in  the 
House  that  is  worth  a  Whip's  counting.  Its  voice  will 
be  outside  :  and  that  spells  violence. 


2o6  HENRY  SCOTT   HOLLAND 

Toward  the  end  of  1895,  he  founded  "The  Commonwealth." 
The  first  number  was  published  in  Jan.  i8g6.  He  writes 
to  Hey  wood  Sumner,  "  It  will  have  a  core  of  matter  common 
with  Goodwill,  but  it  will  soar  to  higher  flights,  besides 
being  twice  as  large.  Goodwill  will  remain  as  the  '  parish  ' 
organ.  This  will  strive  for  the  public  attention,  more 
especially  of  the  youth  of  England.  A  Church  Social 
organ.  The  name  is  good,  I  think  :  it  is  too  noble  in  meaning 
to  be  left  to  the  mere  use  of  old  Noll :  it  holds  in  it  every- 
thing." 

Commonwealth  has  outlived  him,  and  is  a  memorial 
to  him.  He  put  in  it,  month  after  month,  himself :  and  he 
had  round  him  a  very  notable  group  of  men  and  women. 
Contributions  were  unpaid  :  but  sometimes  he  sent  a  cheque 
to  console  a  would-be  contributor  whose  work  he  refused. 
He  enforced  good  workmanship  :  but  he  would  send  back 
contributions  not  with  a  curt  "  Declined  with  thanks," 
but  with  a  letter  of  encouragement  and  of  advice.  Now 
and  again  he  would  suggest  the  toning-down  of  an  article ; 
but  he  was  not  averse  from  very  plain  speaking,  and  his 
own  articles  could  be  as  angry  and  as  vehement  as  any. 
When  people  were  offended,  and  found  fault  with  him, 
he  was  careful  to  publish  their  complaints.  He  set  himself 
to  play  the  game  :  but  not  without  strong  language  and 
hard  hitting. 

It  was  the  very  thing  for  him  :  it  enabled  him  to  say 
what  he  liked  :  unless  he  could  do  that,  he  could  not  breathe. 
He  must  keep  his  sermons  above  party-politics  and  the 
events  of  the  day :  as  Fremantle  had  prophesied  in  1873, 
"It  will  not  do  for  him  to  be  simply  a  brilliant  popular 
preacher :  he  must  be  a  philosophical  preacher."  But 
he  had  a  thousand  interests.  Therefore  he  must  have  a 
market  for  them.  In  Commonwealth,  he  could  be,  when  he 
was  at  his  best,  "  genius  in  its  shirtsleeves." 


iSgo  TO  1903  207 

By  Jan.  1898,  the  success  of  the  venture  was  becoming 
clear  :  "  The  Commonwealth  is  now  on  the  point  of  paying 
its  way.  Our  difficulties  have  been  great,  our  perils  many  ; 
at  one  time — but  that  is  more  than  a  year  ago — we  thought 
we  had  issued  our  last  number."  By  1904,  there  was  talk 
of  making  it  a  weekly  paper.  It  continues  in  prosperity, 
with  Mr.  Cheshire  as  editor,  and  Mr.  G.  W.  Wardman  as 
manager.  It  was  designed  to  endure  :  it  stands  for  affairs 
that  concern  all  of  us. 

He  took  out  of  it  three  of  his  books  :  two  more  books 
have  been  taken  out  of  it  by  Mr.  Cheshire  :  and  there  is 
plenty  more,  waiting  to  be  taken.  The  two  dozen  volumes 
would  suffice  for  half-a-dozen  anthologies.  But  there 
are  things  in  it  which  hurt :  and  in  the  later  volumes  there 
is  a  touch  of  disappointment  or  disillusionment.  Causes 
that  he  upheld,  and  men  whom  he  trusted,  showed  themselves 
in  a  less  favourable  light.  This,  above  all,  hurts  ;  that  he 
did  not  foretell  the  coming  of  the  War.  To  one  who  was 
as  sure  that  Germany  was  planning  the  War  as  that  the 
sun  would  rise  tomorrow,  it  is  horrible,  now,  to  find  him 
raging  against  •'  bloated  armaments,"  mocking  at  "  the 
German  scare,"  and  so  forth.  That  was  his  way,  up  to 
the  end.  Commonwealth,  in  August  1914,  says  not  one  word 
about  the  Serajevo  murders,  not  one  word  about  the  crisis. 
It  announces  an  International  Congress  of  Social  Christianity, 
to  be  held  in  Basel ;  with  papers  to  be  read,  Sept.  30,  on 
"  Christianity  and  Universal  Peace." 

1896 

On  Aug.  19,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Talbot — one  of  many  letters 
— about  Father  Dolling ;  who  had  offended  in  matters 
of  ritual,  and  had  been  obliged,  after  ten  years,  to  resign 
his  work  for  the  Winchester  College  Mission  (St.  Agatha's, 
Landport)  : — 


2o8  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

I  should  like  to  say,  that  I  got  Adderley  to  re-write 
from  beginning  to  end  the  appeal  to  the  Bishop :  so  that 
it  might  simply  be  an  assurance  that,  if  there  could  be 
work  given  him,  we  in  our  hearts  believe  him  loyal  enough 
to  be  trusted.  That  is  what  I  still  think.  And,  in  our 
present  stress,  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  confess  that, 
in  face  of  the  awful  task  set  the  Church,  we  will  risk  some- 
thing in  order  to  utilise  every  scrap  of  spiritual  force  which 
we  can  draw  out  of  our  treasury.  We  cannot  hope  to  meet 
our  tremendous  responsibilities  without  experiment,  strain, 
adventure,  in  the  use  of  exceptional  men  for  exceptional 
needs.  Boiling's  spiritual  depth,  and  his  capacity  to  hold 
together  the  confidence  of  Winchester  masters,  boys,  old 
boys,  etc.,  coupled  with  the  steadiness  of  his  own  flock, 
justify  a  stretch  of  trust  which  it  would  still  be  right  to 
deny  to  a  common  or  garden  ritualist. 

Of  course,  he  must  not  dictate  his  own  private  terms  : 
and  Reservation,  for  adoration,  raises  a  matter  of  principle. 
But,  I  think,  he  would  yield  to  a  theologian  on  that  point. 
It  certainly  has  never  come  up  in  this  fracas,  Winchester 
would  surely  have  made  use  of  it,  if  it  had  been  a  strong 
point.  And  Dolling  would,  I  believe,  yield,  with  Irish 
impulsiveness,  to  a  distinct  act  of  trust  on  a  Bishop's  part 
toward  him.  He  feels  keenly  the  position  of  a  rebel.  And 
the  more  he  was  trusted,  the  more  he  would,  probably, 
concede. 

During  1894-1896,  he  was  again  Select  Preacher  at 
Oxford  :  he  writes  to  his  sister,  after  one  of  the  sermons  : — 

Bournemouth.  Feb.  11,  1896. — I  am  through  :  better 
than  I  expected.  Quite  well  from  half  an  hour  at  this 
gorgeous  sea  :  and  feeling  guiltily  that  I  ought  to  come 
back  at  once.  I  was  dead  on  Saturday,  but  carried  over 
Sunday,  gradually  getting  better.  Sermon  too  long : 
and  few  boys — too  beautiful  a  day  to  imagine  them  there : 
lots  of  dons :  anyhow  it  was  done.  Gore,  in  evening, 
quite  splendid  in  wise  instruction  to  the  boys  at  St.  Mary's, 
Nothing  could  possibly  be  better :  or  nobler.  I  came 
down  with  the  old  dear  by  train  :  he  let  me  sleep.  We  have 
totally  failed  to  get  Durham  into  action  over  Armenia  : 
he  appalled  Gore  into  speechlessness  by  approving  of 
Lord  Salisbury's  speech  !  ! 


1890  TO   1903  209 

Another  letter  to  her,  a  few  weeks  later,  describes  a 
sermon  under  very  different  conditions  : — 

The  Rectory,  Kettering.  March  30,  1896.  One  line : 
all  well :  only — what  do  you  think  ?  I  innocently  went 
to  church  in  the  morning  :  read  lessons  etc.  :  until  at  the 
end  of  third  hymn  I  discovered  the  whole  church  to  be 
glaring  at  me  :  curate  nodding  :  I  was  expected  to  preach  ! 
I  stepped  up  into  the  pulpit,  perfectly  dazed :  I  could 
not  imagine  what  to  say ;  or  do.  A  dreadful  pause  :  at 
last  I  read  out  a  text ;  and,  then,  fled  from  my  text  on  to 
another  sermon  altogether,  which  came  into  my  head  to 
save  me.  I  got  through  :  headlong :  wild.  I  saw  poor 
old  dears  with  their  fingers  on  my  text,  wondering  what 
on  earth  it  had  to  do  with  what  I  was  saying.  I  never 
was  so  staggered  or  taken  back  in  my  life. 

In  November,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Creighton,  on  his  appoint- 
ment to  be  Bishop  of  London  : — 

All  our  arms  are  open  to  receive  you,  as  you  know  well. 
The  old  Dome  is  alive  with  delight.  It  knows  you  so  well 
already.  We  have  a  fixed  tradition  at  St.  Paul's  that  we  and 
the  Bishop  love  one  another,  and  that  we  hold  the  Cathedral 
freely  for  his  service.  It  is  a  deep  joy  to  think  that  this 
tradition  wiU  fortify  itself  now  again  by  intimate  personal 
agreement.  I  recall  so  well  the  night  at  Cambridge  with 
Arthur  Lyttelton,  when  you  had  just  accepted  the  Bishopric 
[of  Peterborough].  And  I  think  of  dear  old  Cop  out  there 
in  Ceylon  and  of  his  pleasure  in  it.  It  is  a  frightful  burden 
to  lay  on  you  :  I  hope  you  will  use  up  everybody  except 
yourself.  We  want  our  Bishop  to  have  his  head  above 
water — not  to  be  loaded  down  by  the  tremendous  grind. 
It  will  help  us  all  if  he  reserves  himself  a  little,  in  order  to 
have  time  to  take  the  measure  of  things  and  give  us  a  lead. 
This  big  place  cries  out  not  only  for  noble  drudgery  but 
also  for  a  Chief  who  is  at  least  far  enough  out  of  the  smoke 
to  see  how  the  battle  goes.  God  fortify  and  guard  your 
heart. 


210  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

1897 

In  1897,  he  was  fifty  years  old.  He  was  beginning  now 
and  again  to  feel  his  age,  and  to  mock  at  himself  for  it ; 
and  to  find  more  to  admire  in  the  past  than  in  the  present. 
There  is  a  letter  to  Miss  May  Talbot,  June  4  : — 

The  two  last  years  have  been  a  revelation  of  where  we 
stand  ;  and  I  own,  it  has  seemed  to  me  sad.  I  could  not 
have  believed  that  the  response  to  right  and  to  honour,  and 
to  ideals,  could  have  been  so  slack  as  it  has  shown  itself. 
The  upper  classes  have  ceased  to  know  what  such  appeals 
mean.  And  the  papers  that  represent  other  classes  have 
been  desperately  low,  and  often  wicked.  Last  year,  the 
Pall  Mall  wrote  articles  which  I  should  have  thought  were 
beyond  the  widest  toleration.  The  deadness,  the  apathy, 
the  indifference,  are  astounding.  And,  for  years,  we  have 
felt  bitterly  the  shrinking  of  the  scale  of  men — in  literature, 
in  art,  in  law,  in  Parliament.  Watts  is  alive  ;  yes  !  that 
is  just  it.  He  is  of  the  past.  But,  dear  May,  this  is  only 
true  of  our  own  generation.  You  and  Ted  are  of  the  younger. 
You  may  see  a  different  day.  It  is  only  a  pause  :  and  the 
pause  is  sure  to  break  suddenly.  The  dead  bit  will  be  over. 
You  and  he  must  keep  up  heart  of  grace.  Out  of  your 
generation,  the  new  voices  will  speak,  the  new  spirit  rise, 
the  new  hope  dawn.  Do  not  let  us  who  are  in  the  drag  of 
the  backwater  sadden  you  who  wiU  see  new  and  great 
things. 

This  mood  was  on  him  at  the  time  of  the  Second  Jubilee. 
He  did  not  fail  in  his  loyalty  *  :  but  he  could  not  stand  the 
excess  of  national  self-worship  ;    and  in  Commonwealth,  in 

*  He  writes  to  a  friend,  of  the  Jubilee  Procession,  "  It  was  a  most 
splendid  spectacle.  I  never  before  believed  that  one  would  not  see  through 
anything  spectacular  ;  but  this  was  simply  genuine.  But  the  best  of  all 
was,  that  after  all  the  gorgeous  glories  of  War  had  passed  by,  they  were 
wiped  out  by  the  simplicity  of  one  dear  old  lady  in  a  black  gown,  who 
sat  there  for  peace  and  kindliness  and  brotherhood  and  mercy,  and  who 
would  not  kill  a  fly  if  she  could  help  it.  She  entirely  swept  everything 
else  out  of  sight ;  and  she  was  human  and  motherly  and 
tender-hearted."' 


iSgo  TO   1903  211 

July,  he  hit  out  at  it,  with  an  article  which  he  headed 
"  Sackcloth."  The  hope  of  peace  was  gone :  "  Never 
was  peace  more  remote,  more  impossible."  The  hope  of 
liberty  was  gone  :  look  at  our  foreign  policy,  at  Crete,  at 
Armenia :  "  Our  educated  classes,  our  governing  classes, 
what  belief  have  they  in  the  inspiration  of  liberty  ?  We 
were  often  silly  enough  in  old  days ;  and  it  is  easy  to  scoff 
at  all  we  said  and  did  for  Greece  in  the  old  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, or'  at  our  ecstasies  over  Kossuth  and  Garibaldi. 
It  was  something  so  to  believe  in  freedom  that  we  now  and 
again  lost  our  heads  over  it.  Would  that  we  could  be  even 
tempted  to  lose  them  to-day."  And  the  old  idealism  was 
gone  :  "  No  prophets  speak,  no  great  voices  stir.  It  is  a 
day  of  small  men  everywhere,  and  of  small  things.  We  are 
caught  in  a  backwater," 

He  got  no  comfort,  at  this  time,  from  the  Liberal  Party  : 
they  were  befriending  neither  the  Church  nor  Labour, 
He  caUed  a  meeting  at  his  house — Jan.  1897 — there  is  a 
letter  to  Adderley — "  Would  you  like  to  have  a  knot  of  us 
to  talk  over  our  political  future  ?  It  is  rather  a  moment 
for  telling  the  Liberals  plainly  that  if  they  mean  to  have 
our  help  (i)  They  must  repudiate  Sir  William  Harcourt 
and  all  his  works,  and  all  the  anti-Church  sort  of  business  : 
and  (2)  that  they  must  throw  over  the  Nonconformist 
capitaUst,  and  come  into  close  touch  with  Labour.  It  is 
the  hour  of  reconstruction  :  and  we  might  be  heard.  Would 
you  think  it  worth  while  ?  "  At  this  meeting  at  Holland's 
house,  he  and  other  Liberal  Churchmen  sent  a  protest  to 
the  Liberal  Whip,  then  Mr.  Thomas  Ellis,  against  the 
inertness  of  official  Liberalism  ;  especially,  its  indifference 
toward  Labour  : — 

....  We  are  quite  willing  to  accept  Disestablishment 
when  it  is  the  nation's  will ;  but  the  last  election  made  it 
obvious  that  the  nation  has  at  present  no  such  intention  • 


212  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

and,  whatever  good  it  may  be  thought  by  some  to  be  Hkely 
eventually  to  bring  to  the  Church,  we  confess  that  we  do 
not  see  that  it  would  in  any  way  relieve  the  social  pressure 
on  Labour, 

We  are  convinced  that  without  a  definite  policy  to  relieve 
this  pressure  the  Liberal  party  will  die.  The  leader  of  the 
party  in  the  future  must  have  the  power  of  inspiring  such  a 
policy,  which  must  be  broad  enough  to  arouse  enthusiasm. 
Mere  skill  in  Parliamentary  tactics  cannot  replace  the  moral 
force  and  religious  spirit  that  have,  before  now,  given  life 
to  the  Liberal  creed.  In  a  word,  it  is  the  social  policy  that 
we  want,  and  the  leader  who  believes  in  it. 

Yet  it  is  with  Labour  that  official  Liberalism  appears  to 
us  to  be  out  of  touch  ;  the  very  growth  of  the  LL.P.  is  a 
symptom  of  it.  The  rich  Liberal  capitalist  is  not  necessarily 
more  in  sympathy  with  the  workers  than  the  rich  Tory 
capitalist.  Parliament  is  still  made  up  for  the  most  part 
of  wealthy  men ;  nor  does  official  Liberalism  show  much 
readiness  to  concede  a  fair  share  of  representation  to  Labour 
men.    This  is  suicidal  and  unjust. 

Further,  we  are  Churchmen  ;  and  we  feel  strongly  that 
more  room  may  yet  be  found  in  Liberal  counsels  for  Liberal 
Churchmen.  There  has  been  a  great  development  of  social 
enthusiasm  among  our  fellows  ;  and  it  is  regrettable  that  by 
any  want  of  generosity,  any  refusal  to  see  our  reasonable 
claims  in  education  or  in  Church  reform,  so  great  an  oppor- 
tunity of  attracting  to  the  party  of  progress  this  new  social 
earnestness  should  be  lost. 

He  writes  to  Richmond,  about  Disestablishment :  the 
letter  is  undated,  but  seems  to  belong  here  : — 

The  Radical  case  against  it  has  never  been  said.  There 
is  an  excellent  opportunity  for  saying  it.  We  might  pro- 
nounce Disestablishment  to  belong  to  the  epoch  of  the 
Liberalism  of  the  individual,  troubled  with  an  individual 
conscience  and  its  peevish  rights.  We  might  show  how  we 
have  left  this  excellent  man  behind,  still  explaining  his 
limited,  petty  woes ;  and  that  we  have  moved  on,  unable 
to  wait  for  him,  on  the  stronger  movements  of  the  mass 
(not  Popish)  ;  swept  up  with  its  recognition  of  the  corporate 
life,  and  its  socialistic  humanitarianism,  and  all  that  most 
harmonises  with  a  Church.     It  might  be  said  largely,  and 


1890  TO   1903  213 

forcibly — in  a  little  volume,  popular  and  cheap,  or  in  leaflets 
to  the  people — by  five  or  six  of  us.  We  must  show  that  the 
Liberal  defence  of  the  Church  is  other  than  that  of  the 
"  Church  Reformers." 

The  autumn  of  1897  was  a  time  of  grief  to  him.  In 
September,  his  sister's  health  broke  down,  and  she  had  to 
leave  him  :  "  She  has  always  been  so  wonderfully  good  and 
steady  and  unselfish ;  and  she  has  really  lived  to  make 
my  life  here  run  smooth."  On  Nov.  19,  his  mother  died. 
He  writes  to  Richmond,  "  It  came  so  suddenly  and  quietly 
at  last.  We  had  been  very  alarmed  one  Friday  :  then, 
this  passed  :  and  she  had  such  strength  to  throw  it  off 
that  we  got  hopeful.  But  the  doctors  and  nurses  feared 
more  than  we  knew.  Suddenly,  she  said,  '  God  have 
mercy,'  and  '  I  am  so  tired  :  I  want  a  good  long  sleep : ' 
and  died,  without  a  single  touch  of  effort  or  of  pain.  The 
face  kept  gentle  and  beautiful,  right  until  the  morning  of 
the  burial :  it  was  an  immense  comfort,  to  live  with  it. 
It  is  the  absolute  and  irreparable  end  of  an  earthly  home. 
She  was  our  home.  Nothing  can  change  this  :  or  soften 
this  loss.  Her  hopefulness,  her  gaiety,  her  courage,  and 
her  tenderness  were  unfailing  founts  of  gladness.  And  her 
whole  soul  went  out  in  motherhood." 


1898-1900 

His  younger  sister  was  often  with  him,  after  1897,  at 
Amen  Court.     Her  brother  Spencer  has  written  of  her  : — 

"  With  her  simplicity  of  character,  and  her  dislike  of 
all  pretence  of  '  intellectual  interests,'  she  managed  to  be 
to  him  what  is  called  an  ideal  companion.  She  made 
herself  a  place  at  Amen  Court,  with  a  ready  sense  of  humour 
and  much  perspicacity  in  measuring-up  the  guests  she 
met  there.  She  delighted  in  the  St.  Paul's  services  and 
music :     and     she    enjoyed    poking    about    City    churches 


214  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

and  quaint  haunts  with  Scott.  She  was  naturally  religious, 
but  had  no  fads  of  religion  :  she  dismissed  all  exaggerated 
ritual  as  '  funny.'  Her  attempts  to  read  theological  or 
philosophical  literature  to  him  were  very  amusing  :  she 
treated  all  such  as  equally  '  funny.'  Essentially  a  brothers' 
sister,  she  knew  our  several  moods  :  and  when  we  were 
'  in  a  funny  mood,'  i.e.,  morose  or  depressed,  she  treated  us 
accordingly.  She  and  Scott  both  of  them  loved  the  cottage 
at  Bettws,  and  delighted  in  meeting  there  to  roam  over 
hills  and  up  valleys  together.  Her  last  lingering  illness 
was  borne  with  exemplary  patience.  Scott  took  a  leading 
part  in  the  choice  of  the  reredos  in  St.  Paul's,  Wimbledon 
Park,  to  her  memory.  The  dog  at  St.  Ursula's  feet  repre- 
sents her  dog  Buzzy  :  as  Scott  was  sure  that  St.  Ursula  was 
equally  fond  of  the  dog  that  appears  in  Carpaccio's  picture." 

In  Feb.  1898,  in  Commonwealth,  there  is  the  first 
notice  of  the  Maurice  Hostel.  "  Some  money  has  been 
promised  to  start  a  C.S.U.  Settlement  in  Hoxton,  which  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  neglected  part  of  London."  The  money 
was  found  by  Mr.  Russell  Wakefield,  afterward  Bishop  of 
Birmingham.  On  May  4,  a  great  inaugural  meeting  was 
held  in  the  Chapter -house  of  St.  Paul's.  On  Nov,  2,  the 
Hostel  was  declared  open  by  the  Bishop  of  Stepney,  now 
Bishop  of  London  :  a  house  for  men,  under  the  care  of 
Mr.  George  Haw,  and  a  house  for  women,  under  the  care 
of  Miss  Eves.  Holland  was  Chairman  of  Committee. 
Nothing  in  all  London  was  of  more  concern  to  him  than  the 
welfare  of  this  Hostel.  He  worked  for  it,  begged  for  it, 
gave  to  it,  helped  it  in  every  imaginable  way.  It  went 
through  difficulties  :  Hoxton  is  made  of  them  :  the  work 
was  uphill :  but  it  went  ahead,  with  clubs  and  classes  and 
guilds  and  plans  for  holidays  and  amusements,  too  many 
to  be  enumerated  here.  He  was  often  disappointed  that 
his  appeals  for  it  were  not  more  effective  :  he  set  his  heart 
on  its  success  :  and  it  has  alleviated  and  sweetened  the  life 
of  Hoxton  for  more  than  twenty  years. 


iSgo  TO   T903  215 

In  1899,  his  chief  writings  in  Commonwealth  are  on  the 
problems  of  South  Africa,  and  on  the  impending  South 
African  War.  There  was  a  time,  he  says,  when  it  could 
have  been  averted  :  it  had  at  last  become  inevitable  :  the 
ultimatum  had  indeed  "  closed  every  door  with  a  slam  "  : 
and  he  hates  it  all,  and  most  of  all  he  hates  the  twopenny 
patriots  of  "  the  War-party  "  : — 

This  is  what  lays  us  low  in  the  dust ;  and  round  about 
us  the  vile  passion  of  the  fight  rises  like  a  steam  ;  and  the 
air  is  hot  with  the  lies  of  the  roaring  streets,  and  the  savage 
swagger  of  the  music-halls.  .  .  .  We,  at  home,  who  risk 
nothing  ;  who  only  tingle  with  the  cheap  fury  of  Fleet 
Street ;  we  have  but  to  glance  down  the  pages  of  our 
evening  press  to  learn  how  terribly  the  war-spirit  demoralises. 
We  could  hardly  have  believed  that  we  could  fall  so  far 
from  the  very  memory  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  April,  1900,  he  published  a  series  of  his  St.  Paul's 
sermons,  under  the  rather  ambiguous  title,  "  Old  and 
New."     (S.  T.  Freemantle,  London,  1900.) 

In  June,  in  Commonwealth,  he  wrote  on  the  Archbishops' 
decision  as  to  reservation  of  the  Sacrament.  He  was 
wholly  opposed  to  "  adoration  of  the  Sacrament  itself," 
and  to  any  use  that  could  "  confound  the  nature  of  a 
Sacrament."  *     His   chief  reason  for   desiring  reservation 

*  He  writes,  at  this  time,  to  a  friend,  "  We  are  never  to  forget  for  a 
moment  that  the  Real  Presence  is  '  mystical,'  i  e.,  that  it  is  far  more  than 
we  know  how  to  define,  and  does  not  correspond  to  other  forms  in  which 
things  of  earth  are  really  present  to  us.  We  can  be  sure  of  its  reality  : 
but  not  of  the  laws  or  methods  which  govern  its  presence.  We  dare  not 
describe  this  Presence,  or  regulate  it,  under  any  formulae  that  we  know 
of.  Cardinal  Newman  said  this  superbly,  in  language  quite  startling 
for  its  strength.  Strong  says  it  well  in  his  little  book  on  the  Real  Presence. 
The  Presence  is  an  Act  of  Reality  done  into  us,  in  and  through  the  united 
action  of  the  Church's  worship.  We  do  not  know  much  about  it,  as 
separated  from  the  actual  context  of  that  worship."  Many  years  later, 
in  April,  191 7,  he  writes  to  Prebendary  Isaacs,  asking  him  to  sign  a 
memorial  supporting  reservation.  "  I  saw  the  memorial  in  various  stages. 
It  is  greatly  improved  from  its  first  form,     (i)  I  think  that  the  Bishop 


2i6  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

was  thoroughly  practical.  At  some  later  time,  it  might  be 
justifiable  to  "  press  for  a  fuller  liberty  than  the  actual 
rubric  now  allows."  At  present,  the  thing  to  be  done  was 
to  solve  a  practical  difficulty  : — 

The  hideous  overcrowding  of  our  big  cities,  which  is 
worsening  every  hour,  and  which  now  houses  900,000 
people,  in  London  alone,  in  one-room  tenements,  has  made 
it  hopeless  to  find,  what  the  rubric  requires,  a  decent  room 
for  a  private  celebration  for  multitudes  of  our  sick.  The 
vast  size  of  our  populations  has  travelled  far  beyond  any- 
thing that  the  old  Prayer-book  ever  imagined.  Instead  of 
a  stray  sick  person  here  and  there,  easily  provided  for, 
there  are,  at  the  periods  of  the  great  Feasts,  numbers  of 
sick  folk  to  be  communicated.  Quite  apart  from  the  rule 
of  celebrating  fasting,  which,  after  all,  has  the  immense 
weight  of  universal  authority  and  immemorial  tradition 
such  as  the  English  Church  professes  to  respect,  it  is  both 
cruel  and  wrong  to  demand  of  a  priest  a  continual  readiness 
to  repeat  a  celebration.  Nothing  could  be  more  deadening 
or  unspiritual.  In  Hospitals,  it  would  be  a  merciless 
requirement.  Reservation  of  the  Sacrament  for  the  sick 
has  become  more  and  more  expedient,  to  meet  the  new 
exigencies. 

Toward  the  end  of  1900,  at  All  Saints,  Tufnell  Park, 
he  and  others  gave  a  series  of  addresses,  which  were  pub- 
lished under  the  title  "  The  Church  and  New  Century 
Problems."  (Wells  Gardner,  Darton,  &  Co.,  London, 
1901.)  One  of  the  addresses,  by  Dr.  Percy  Dearmer,  was 
on  the  work  of  the  Christian  Social  Union.  It  now  had 
thirty-five  Branches,  and  more  than  4000  members. 

needs  to  know  the  sort  of  mind  that  it  represents ;  and  to  learn  how 
large  it  is.  The  other  folk  do  pre-occupy  the  stage.  (2)  We  want  to 
bar  rigidity  in  excluding  the  Reserved  Sacrament  from  the  church.  The 
memorial  wants  the  reservation  to  be  frank  and  open  and  in  the  church. 
It  only  bars  exposition  in  all  its  forms.  ...  I  hope  you  may  see  your 
way  to  sign.  I  dread  cleavage  in  the  Catholic  movement  more  than  I 
can  say  :  but  there  is  a  necessity  for  saying  and  showing  where  we  all 
are.  And  this  does  it  in  good  temper  without  irritating.  How  withering 
it  all  is." 


iSgo  TO  1903  217 

1901-1903 

There  are  few  letters  for  these  years  :  he  was  writing 
himself  out,  month  after  month,  in  Commonwealth.  The 
death  of  the  Queen  :  the  dragging-on  of  the  War  :  the 
outcry  against  the  concentration  camps  :  the  first  elections 
to  the  Borough  Councils  :  the  victory  of  the  Progressives 
in  the  L.C.C.  election  :  the  fight  over  the  Penrhyn  quarries  : 
— these  were  his  chief  themes  in  1901  :  and,  when  Christmas- 
time came,  he  flung  round,  for  relief,  to  one  of  his  fantasies, 
a  criticism  of  the  figure  of  John  Bull  : — 

Is  he  not  ludicrously  obsolete,  in  face  of  the  Imperial 
problems  that  hold  at  this  moment  the  key  to  the  destinies 
of  England  ?  What  on  earth  has  he  to  do  with  the  spirit 
of  the  hour,  with  the  genius  of  the  national  development  ? 
In  the  first  place,  he  is  fat  :  and  the  fat  man's  day  is  past 
and  gone.  ...  As  soon  as  we  pass  from  the  grassy  Midlands, 
and  cover  the  wider  horizons  of  Empire,  the  fat  men  have 
all  disappeared.  They  have  dropped  into  the  abyss. 
In  their  place,  is  the  long  lean  Australian,  so  curiously 
American  in  the  type  that  he  runs  to.  He  is  taU  and 
compact,  bony  and  muscular.  And  your  African  colonist 
follows  suit.  Our  boys  in  the  ranches  or  on  the  veldt 
cannot  afford  to  wear  an  ounce  of  flesh,  beyond  the  decent 
draping  of  their  bones.  Look  at  India.  Did  anyone 
ever  see  a  stout  Indian  official  ?  We  know  the  cool,  long- 
headed, lizard-like  men,  who  build  up  our  Indian  Civil 
Service. 

In  the  streets  of  London,  where  you  pass  aU  the  hurried 
financiers,  and  officers,  and  travellers,  who  run  to  and  fro 
over  the  face  of  the  earth  on  our  liners,  or  who  control, 
from  the  Exchange,  the  vast  fortunes  of  this  Empire  of  ours 
— it  is  strange  how  seldom  your  eye  falls  on  the  Georgian 
face.  It  is  the  alert,  concentrated,  narrow,  Elizabethan 
type,  with  the  neat  cropped  brown  beard,  or  the  clean- 
shaven jaw,  that  greets  you  over  and  over  again. 

He  has  no  brains.  He  embodies,  in  his  fatuous  good- 
humour,  in  his  farmer's  suit,  in  his  obvious  provincialism, 
the  British  horror  of  ideas.  .  .  .  And  we  actually  go  and 


2i8  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

crack  him  up,  as  the  very  type  of  what  an  EngUshman  ought 
to  be,  at  a  moment  when  we  are  concerned  intimately  and 
seriously  with  every  European  race  in  all  quarters  of  the 
globe  ;  when  we  are  touching  them  at  all  sorts  of  delicate 
points,  where  things  are  complicated,  and  a  tactless  word 
or  a  single  blundering  act  may  bring  down  a  storm  which 
may  shake  the  Empire.  We  revel  in  our  own  idealess 
stupidity,  at  an  hour  when  brains  count  for  more  and  more 
every  day  in  the  shaping  of  history  :  and  when  the  sharpest 
of  American  wits,  and  the  enormous  intellectual  industry 
of  Germany,  and  the  keen  subtlety  of  France  are  pitted 
against  us,  in  the  world's  affairs  and  markets,  with  an  ever- 
increasing  intensity. 

He  is  without  an  ounce  of  imagination.  He  has  no 
horizons.  He  has  stubbed  Thornaby  Waste  as  his  highest 
achievement ;  and  after  that,  he  has  but  one  cry  that  lasts 
him  into  the  very  hour  of  death,  '  Gie  me  my  aale.'  And 
yet  he  holds  the  gorgeous  East  in  fee.  His  Empire  out- 
heralds  all  fabled  dreams.  It  is  the  highest  imaginative 
creation  that  human  history  has  ever  flung  up.  That 
big  fat  man  is  the  greatest  Mahommedan  ruler  in  the  world. 
And  that  is  only  a  fraction  of  the  wonder  with  which  his 
hand  is  laid  upon  all  that  fairy  life,  so  rich  and  mystic  and 
immense,  which  passes  before  our  astounded  eyes  in  the 
magic  pages  of  Kim.  And  there  are  the  millions  of  dusky 
Africa ;  and  the  swarms  of  Southern  Islands.  Their  fate 
lies  with  him. 

So  he  goes  on,  chasing  John  Bull  through  all  the 
responsibilities  of  Church  and  State  and  Empire  : — 

Is  it  a  slight  matter,  that  we  should  flourish  this  ancient 
and  obsolete  picture  about  at  Christmas  time  ?  Surely, 
it  is  time  to  go  back  behind  the  Georges  to  the  spacious  days 
of  great  Elizabeth.  Down  from  the  walls  of  our  old 
English  homes  and  College  Halls,  those  grave  faces  look 
down  at  us  of  the  men  for  whom  the  horizon  of  a  world- 
wide Empire  first  opened  to  the  Island  race.  Serious  they 
are,  and  compact,  and  alert,  possessed  by  deep  thoughts, 
aware  of  the  mystery  of  hfe,  and  yet  daring  the  high  venture 
with  the  courage  of  intelligent  convictions.  Their  outlook 
is  wide  :  for  they  are  Shakespeare's  men.  Their  wills  are 
concentrated  and  deliberate,  bent  on  the  task  set,  conscious 


1890   TO   1903  219 

of  perilous  demands,  disciplined  to  walk  warily,  yet  lifted 
to  the  level  of  their  destiny. 

In  June,  1902,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Talbot,  of  the  look  of 
the  crowd  on  "  Peace  Night."  It  frightened  him  :  he  had 
not  expected  that  John  Bull  would  behave  like  that : — 

The  evil  revelry  was  no  illusion  of  my  Pro-Boer  brain. 
Hall,  an  ardent  fighter,  came  back  sick  and  furious,  more 
than  I  was.  Macpherson,  a  fierce  Scot,  was  as  disgusted. 
Inspector  Palmer  was  dark  as  pitch.  It  was  the  utter 
abandonment,  which  was  so  revolting.  The  faces  lose 
human  expression.  The  girls  are  simply  "  loose."  The 
hideous  look  comes,  which  marks  the  end  of  human  nature. 

Surely,  we  might  have  just  had  the  shadow  of  the  past, 
to  restrain  us.  We  might  have  realised  what  we  had 
come  through.  There  are  the  dead.  And,  then,  the  old 
English  thing  was  to  be  too  strong  to  let  all  barriers  go. 
And  some  faint  touch  of  generosity  might  have  been  shown 
for  those  who  are  beaten,  and  who  are  signing  away  their 
lives.  The  ugliness  of  our  joy  is  so  appalling  :  the  fat 
City  men  gone  mad.  We  must  turn  some  corner,  and  get 
away  from  this  :  we  must  recover  some  tone  and  control. 
I  know  that  our  nerves  are  high  strung  :  but  our  girls  must 
not  lead  us  down-hill. 

In  Commonwealth,  July,  1902,  he  published  a  hymn 
which  now  is  in  the  English  Hymnal : — 

Judge  eternal,  throned  in  splendour, 

Lord  of  lords  and  King  of  kings, 
With  thy  living  fire  of  judgement 

Purge  this  realm  of  bitter  things  : 
Solace  all  its  wide  dominion 

With  the  healing  of  thy  wings. 

Still  the  weary  folk  are  pining 
For  the  hour  that  brings  release  : 

And  the  city's  crowded  clangoiir 
CaUs  aloud  for  sin  to  cease  ; 

And  the  homesteads  and  the  woodlands 
Plead  in  silence  for  their  peace. 


220  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Crown,  O  God,  thine  own  endeavour  : 
Cleave  our  darkness  with  thy  sword  : 

Feed  the  faint  and  hungry  heathen 
With  the  richness  of  thy  Word  : 

Cleanse  the  body  of  this  empire 
Through  the  glory  of  the  Lord. 

In  the  October  number,  there  is  his  sermon  in  St.  Paul's 
(Aug.  31),  at  the  time  of  the  London  meeting  of  the  Trade 
Union  Congress.  His  text  was,  "  Two  are  better  than  one  : 
because  they  have  a  good  reward  for  their  labour.  For  if 
they  fall,  the  one  will  lift  up  his  fellow.  But  woe  to  him 
that  is  alone  when  he  falleth  :  for  he  hath  not  another 
to  help  him  up." 

On  Dec.  27,  1902,  he  writes  to  a  friend,  of  Arthur 
Lyttelton's  dying  : — 

Yesterday  I  went  down  to  Petersfield,  to  say  good-bye 
to  dear  Arthur  Lyttelton.  He  was  most  noble  :  so  quiet, 
so  steady,  so  dignified  and  true.  He  simply  waits  for  the 
end,  and  is  afraid  that  it  is  all  made  too  easy  for  him — 
lying  there  in  God's  Hands,  with  no  temptations,  no  troubles, 
no  regrets — only  one  sorrow,  the  parting  from  wife  and 
children.  It  is  like  being  in  Paradise,  to  be  with  him. 
She  is  bearing  bravely,  in  the  support  of  his  wonderful 
calm.  So  we  pass.  The  company  is  breaking.  God 
grant  us  to  know  his  peace,  as  we  depart. 

In  March,  1903,  the  University  of  Aberdeen  gave  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  The  Moderator, 
Dr.  J.  M.  Lang,  wrote  to  him,  "  We  in  Aberdeen  felt  that, 
while  your  special  habitation  was  the  Church  of  England, 
you  belonged  to  the  whole  Christian  '  Commonwealth.' 
We  felt,  too,  that  you  had  laid  us  under  a  special  debt 
of  gratitude  on  account  of  your  services  in  our  Chapel, 
and  especially  your  noble  and  most  interesting  lecture  on 
St.  John." 

In   August,    he   left   England,    with   Bishop   Wilkinson 


1890  TO  1903  221 

and  Dr.  Archibald  Ean  Campbell— then  Provost  of  St. 
Ninian's,  Perth ;  afterward  Bishop  of  Glasgow — to  make 
arrangements  for  the  Mission  of  Help  to  the  Church  in  South 
Africa.  Something  had  already  been  done  :  "  Six  pioneers 
went  round  in  1902,  to  come  in  touch  with  the  situation, 
to  collect  information,  to  measure  possibilities,  to  learn 
what  was  needed,  and  where,  and  how ;  to  bring  us  back 
a  definite  idea  of  the  work  before  us."  By  1903,  it  was 
time  "  to  expound  the  plan  that  had  been  framed  out  of 
the  information  gained  :  to  interpret  the  spirit  and  the 
method  of  the  mission  :  to  confer  on  the  spot  with  those 
who  knew  the  varieties  of  locality  and  condition :  to 
secure  harmony  of  intention  :  to  collect  precise  details,  by 
which  to  guide  those  at  home  in  the  selection  of  the  missioners 
and  in  their  allotment  to  their  separate  spheres."  (In 
April,  1904,  seventeen  missioners  went  out :  and  twenty- 
three  more  were  to  follow  in  the  summer  of  1904.) 

To  Miss  Winnie  Talbot 

Aug.  1903.  Madeira.  In  the  midst  of  the  Sea. — The 
sea  grey,  but  never  rising  out  of  a  manageable  flatness. 
It  is  miraculous.  We  dance,  we  play,  we  go  to  chiKch, 
we  do  nothing  at  all  for  hours  with  qualified  success  :  but 
here  we  are.  The  Bishop  is  very  sleepless,  and  wretched  : 
we  trust  for  a  break.  People  are  nice.  Tell  May  that 
everybody  on  board  loves  matins  :  they  come  to  it,  young 
and  old,  with  tears  of  joy  in  their  eyes  :  the  band  plays  us 
in,  and  plays  us  out  :  we  prance  out  from  Dearly  Beloved 
to  the  strain  of  the  march  in  Scipio.  It  is  wonderful. 
How  long  this  amazing  calm  wiU  last,  I  cannot  tell.  The 
sea  is  the  most  strangely  foolish  thing  I  have  ever  met : 
such  a  lot  of  it,  with  nothing  on  earth  to  do.  What  is  it 
there  for  ? 

To  Miss  May  Talbot 

Aug.  26.  Rondebosch. — We  are  scuttling  out  of  this 
charming  villa  to-day,  to  go  to  Grahamstown,  two  days. 


222  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

two  nights,  in  a  glorious  travelling  coach,  with  a  chef  to 
ourselves,  Mr.  Chamberlain's  own — all  placed  at  our  dis- 
posal by  the  Company.  Is  not  that  Apostolic !  We 
are  perfect  wrecks :  the  Bishop  hideously  tired ;  but 
speaking  with  miraculous  force.  I  have  lost  every  scrap 
of  voice  through  sheer  fatigue  :  rather  a  bore,  in  face  of 
1000  men  in  the  Cathedral  last  Sunday  afternoon :  I 
croaked  like  a  raven.  We  have  done  well  here,  I  think  : 
but  it  is  nervous,  anxious  work,  which  might  easily  be  up- 
set. You  will  relieve  Winny  by  telling  her  that  the  good 
Anglicanism  of  our  grandmothers  is  running  strong  out 
here.  Really,  it  is  all  very  "  moderate "  indeed :  with 
lots  of  variety  :  no  spikes  :  sober,  English  :  not  a  church 
that  does  anything  extravagant.  The  Cowley  Fathers  are 
the  "  extremes "  :  and  they  are  quite  beautiful.  A 
tremendous  lunch  at  the  Governor's  yesterday :  with 
Goold-Adams,  Dr.  Jameson,  Merriman,  de  Villiers,  and  all 
the  chiefs  of  both  parties.  To-day,  a  political  crisis  of  the 
direst :   the  situation  is  horribly  serious. 

To  Spencer  L.  Holland 

Aug.  30.  Bishopsbourne,  Grahamstown. — This  is,  I 
firmly  believe,  South  Africa.  We  have  seen  the  illimitable 
veldt.  And  it  is  illimitable.  We  had  a  wonderful  journey 
in  a  superb  sleeping-coach  :  two  days  and  two  nights 
over  the  amazing  karoo  and  veldt.  The  colours  and  sights 
and  distances  are  glorious.  Only  the  endless  medley  of 
broken  tins  and  bottles  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles 
by  the  side  of  the  line,  with  the  blockhouses,  pits,  and 
trenches,  in  infinite  mess,  betray  the  War.  Not  a  frag- 
ment of  life  for  mile  after  mile.  But  the  colour  is  thrilling 
and  bright.  The  little  towns,  when  they  arrive,  are  hideous 
tin-roofed  scamped  affairs.  But  there  is  a  builder  and 
architect,  who  is  working  a  revolution  in  the  great  centres, 
and  raising  and  designing  fine  buildings  on  the  old  Dutch 
type,  full  of  dignity.  This  place  is  rambling,  and  pretty  : 
very  English.  All  the  problems  are  horrible  :  I  cannot 
imagine  how  we  are  to  combine  political  freedom  with 
British  supremacy.  The  entire  colony  is  so  absorbingly 
Dutch  :  except  just  in  the  fringes.  Yet  how  fling  aside 
constitutionalism  ?  A  very  anxious  crisis  is  just  arrived. 
I  had  a  good  talk  with  Merriman,  at  the  Governor's  lunch  : 


1890  TO   1903  223 

a  very  cultivated  and  interesting  man,  of  a  pessimistic 
colour  :  with  strong  convictions  as  to  equity  and  righteous- 
ness, and  great  hatred  of  capitalism  and  Johannesburg. 
Educational  questions  burn.  We  shall  pull  through 
somehow. 

To  Dr.  Richmond 

Port  Elizabeth.  Sept.  4. — We  are  skirting  along.  Very 
anxious  sometimes  :  very  difficult  often  :  Bishop  has  been 
very  low,  between-whiles  :  but  has  risen  splendidly  to  all 
the  occasions,  and  has  carried  things  triumphantly  along. 
There  is  enormous  interest  in  the  educational  problem  here. 
We  are  never  off  it.  And  St.  Peter's  Home  at  Grahams- 
town  is  an  inspiring  instance  of  what  can  be  done  in  concert 
with  an  undenominational  Government  that  has  been 
sweetly  cajoled  :  and  Rondebosch  School  is  a  noble  example 
of  what  can  be  done,  practically,  without  Government 
aid.  It  has  a  real  tone,  and  tradition :  its  site  and  sur- 
roundings are  full  of  beauty.  It  is  thoroughly  well  done. 
But  the  College  part  is  being  steadily  killed  by  the  com- 
petition with  the  Government  CoUege  in  Capetown  :  I  do 
not  see  how  it  can  go  on.  We  had  a  great  interview  with 
Dr.  Muir,  the  heart  of  the  Educational  Administration : 
a  well-equipped  hard-headed  Scotchman. 

Politics  are  terrific  :  I  cannot  see  my  way.  Merriman 
is  a  fine  fellow  :  Jameson  looks  quite  inadequate.  But 
the  tension  between  Dutch  and  English  is  very  sharp. 

To  Mrs.  Spencer  Holland 

Sept.  30.  Bloemfontein. — They  are  building-up  an 
administration,  a  society  :  and,  for  the  moment,  this  thrills. 
When  representative  government  begins,  what  then  ? 
We  don't  know.  We  must  all  hope,  and  pray.  The 
Governor  excellent  :  and  working  like  a  horse.  We  lived 
with  him,  and  with  Goold-Adams,  Governor  of  Orange 
River  Colony,  in  Milner's  house  at  Johannesburg.  So  we 
were  pretty  well  rolled-up  inside  the  administration.  We 
defend  ourselves  by  the  example  of  St.  Paul  and  Sergius 
Paulus  :  not  to  mention  the  Governor  at  Melita  :  so  it  is 
Apostolic.  We  slide  down  to  Kimberley  and  Capetown  : 
and  then — Saxon,  Oct.  14  :  Ludgate  Hill,  Nov.  i. 


V 

1904  TO   I9IO 

In  the  later  years  at  Amen  Court,  he  had  the  help  ol  a 
secretary :  first  Mr.  E.  Bramwell,  then  Mr.  J.  C.  Hall, 
then  (1903-1910)  Mr.  Laurence  Stratford.  His  brother 
writes : — 

Of  Laurence  Stratford's  devotion,  it  is  difficult  to  speak 
adequately.  In  1903,  he  came  to  Amen  Court  from  St. 
John's,  Oxford.  Of  a  bright,  lively  disposition,  keen  and 
full  of  humour,  and  soon  an  admirable  mimic  of  characters 
that  were  in  Scott's  surroundings,  he  became  a  real  and 
close  friend  as  well  as  an  admirable  secretary.  "  My  beloved 
boy,"  Scott  writes,  "  has  gone  off  for  three  weeks'  holiday. 
He  has  won  everybody's  heart,  wherever  I  have  taken  him." 
But  he  maintained  his  independence  of  view  :  nor  was  he 
led,  by  admiration  of  Scott,  to  take  orders.  His  line  was 
history — he  published  in  1910  a  Life  of  Edward  IV. — 
and  education  :  and  he  filled  his  spare  time  by  teaching 
at  the  Choir  School,  and  later  in  a  County  Council  School 
in  the  East-end.  He  read  to  Scott,  and  entered  with  zest 
into  all  his  literary,  social,  and  political  interests.  The 
parting  with  him,  when  he  entered  service  under  the  Board 
of  Education,  was  a  bitter  grief  to  Scott,  and  could  not  be 
talked  of  at  the  first  break  :  but  the  friendship  was  kept 
up.  In  the  War,  he  began  by  serving  in  the  Ministry  of 
Munitions  :  then  he  obtained  leave,  though  he  was  over 
the  military  age,  to  apply  for  a  commission,  and  joined 
up  in  Oct.  1 915  ;  was  invalided  home  in  1916,  and  re- 
joined ;  and  was  killed  on  March  28,  1918,  only  eleven  days 
after  the  death  of  his  "  beloved  Canon  "  (as  he  so  often  wrote 

224 


IN   HIS   STUDY   AT   AMEN    COURT 
1907 


[Barratt's  Photo.  Press 


1904  TO  1910  225 

to  him).  We  of  Scott's  family  had  all  adopted  him  as  our 
friend,  to  whom  we  had  entrusted  the  care  of  Scott :  and 
none  of  us  will  ever  forget  the  debt  of  gratitude  we  owe 
him. 

Others  at  Amen  Court  were  Mr.  Mead,  butler  and  door- 
keeper— "  whose  watchfulness  over  admitting  unacceptable 
visitors  was  an  art,  and  to  hear  him  say  '  The  Canon  is 
engaged '  was  a  study  in  diplomacy  " — and  Miss  Alice 
Hancock.  She  was  for  nearly  thirty  years  in  Dr.  Holland's 
service,  first  in  London,  then  in  Oxford :  he  wrote  of  her, 
a  few  months  before  his  death,  "  Alice  is  too  wonderful : 
steady  as  a  host  of  angels :  and  always  right,"  She  be- 
came responsible,  in  the  later  years  in  London,  for  the 
management  of  his  house,  his  supphes,  and  his  expenses  : 
she  learned  nursing,  and  "  she  knew  exactly,"  says  his 
brother,  "  when  to  be  careful  of  him  and  when  to  be  severe 
with  him."  In  September,  1905,  she  helped  to  nurse 
him  after  an  operation.  "  What  a  strange  memory  an 
operation  leaves  behind  it !  The  immense  preparation : 
the  '  butcher '  look  of  the  stripped  man  in  white :  the 
horrible  gasping  of  the  ether :  the  weird  far-away  waking. 
I  have  never  been  through  it  before.  God  is  very  good. 
I  have  been  kept  quite  happy." 

There  are  two  letters,  at  the  time  of  this  operation, 
from  Mr.  G.  W.  E.  Russell  :— 

Sept.  II. — You  cannot  realize,  and  would  not  believe 
if  I  told  you,  how  large  a  place  you  have  filled  in  my 
thoughts  as  well  as  my  heart,  ever  since  we  first  met  in 
Chat's  rooms  in  the  Spring  Term  of  1873.  You  have  been 
an  ideal  and  an  inspiration  to  me,  all  these  years.  As  a 
rule,  people  only  say  these  things  when  the  subject  of  them 
is  dead.  My  candour  takes  the  form  of  saying  them  to  the 
living  ear  and  heart.  Sept.  13. — It  was  not  really  strange, 
that  you  should  fill  a  great  place  in  my  thoughts,  as  distinct 
from  my  heart.  I  saw  in  you,  for  the  first  time,  a  combina- 
tion of  all  the   things  which   I   most   admired — Religion, 

Q 


226  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Catholicity,  Liberalism,  eloquence,  style,  fun,  grace,  enthu- 
siasm, social  ease — only  to  name  a  few.  After  I  got  to 
know  you,  thoughts  like  these  were  continually  coming  up — 
"  I  wonder  what  Holland  would  do,  I  can  picture  Holland, 
I  should  like  to  be  like  Holland  "■ — perhaps  even,  "  I  envy 
Holland."  You  were,  in  some  form  or  another,  always 
present  to  my  thinking.  Lapse  of  years  has  made  no 
difference.  All  my  old  enthusiasms  are  quite  fresh.  I 
have  often  differed  from  you  wholly  about  S.  Africa, 
partly  about  Armenia,  education,  and  other  controversies ; 
but  the  love  which  has  grown  up  in  these  thirty-two  years 
is  quite  invincible. 

One  of  the  events  of  1905  which  deeply  touched  him  was 
the  march  of  the  500  unemployed,  in  June,  from  Leicester 
to  London.  He  writes  to  F.  L.  Donaldson,  vicar  of  St. 
Mark's,  Leicester,  who  inspired  it : — 

I  keep  thinking  of  your  gallant  fellows  plodding  through 
that  awful  rain.  It  is  heroic  :  even  though  I  doubt  whether 
it  is  quite  war.  Leicester  is  the  guilty  spot :  and  Leicester 
must  produce  the  remedy.  Their  citizenship  is  there. 
But  they  have  done  it  so  bravely,  that  I  must  send  some 
small  tribute.  How  do  you  manage  food  and  shelter  ? 
Will  this  £10  help  ?  * 

In  September,  1905,  he  published  "  Personal  Studies." 
It  was  reprinted  in  October,  and  in  November.  He  writes 
to  Mrs.  Talbot  :— 

It  is  years  since  I  allowed  myself  the  joy  of  adding  to 
the  stock  of  little  nurslings  which  you  are  willing  to  take 
to  your  kindly  arms  from  me.  So  let  me  have  the  little 
pleasure  once  again.  You  can  simply  put  it  away  with  the 
others — if  you  will,  first,  give  it  one  passing  look  of  welcome. 

It  is  all  old  things — "  a  mouldy  one,"  Edward  will  call 
it :  but  the  poor  little  babe  is  trying  to  look  gay  in  its  red 
capote  :  and  it  will  roll  its  head  about,  like  Arthur  Edward, 
and  pretend  to  be  very  wise,  if  you  coax  it  a  bit.     And 

*  Later,  he  allowed  that  he  had  been  wrong  in  regarding  it  as  a  local 
problem  :   that  it  was  a  national  problem,  and  a  national  responsibihty. 


1904  TO  1910  227 

perhaps  some  old  memories  will  stir  and  wake,  as  you  read 
— and  old  faces  will  look  in  :  and  old  voices  will  cry ;  and 
the  dead  days  will  rustle  their  dry  leaves  :  and  you  will  be 
glad  to  remember. 

On  Nov.  17,  there  was  a  procession  of  the  unemployed 
to  St.  Paul's.  "  Of  course,"  he  writes  in  Commonwealth, 
"  if  the  men  will  come  on  a  Sunday,  they  are  bound  to  find 
themselves  in  face  of  the  normal  Cathedral  service,  which  is 
very  elaborate  and  remote.  On  Sundays,  there  is  no 
spare  interval  for  anything  else.  And  it  was  the  dhect 
purpose  of  the  procession  to  show  up  at  the  ordinary  service, 
and  to  demonstrate  their  sore  need  in  the  presence  of  the 
regular  Cathedral  congregation.  This  was  the  heart  of  the 
plan.  So  the  elaboration  of  the  service  could  not  be  helped. 
Anyhow,  the  sweet  music  rose  and  fell,  and  the  lights  shone, 
and  the  lessons  from  Isaiah  and  Revelation  shot  out,  and 
the  hymns  rolled,  and  the  organ  thundered ;  and  the  men 
sat,  and  looked,  and  thought,  and  were  warm,  and  rested 
tired  limbs,  and  felt  not  wholly  un-at-home  in  God's  house." 


1906 

He  published,  this  year,  a  collection  of  sermons,  under 
the  title  "  Vital  Values."  (Wells  Gardner,  Darton,  &  Co., 
London,  1906.) 

On  Feb.  6,  at  a  conference  held  at  his  house  on  the 
Education  Bill,  a  resolution  was  passed,  as  follows,  and  was 
laid  before  Mr.  Birrell : — 

We  accept  the  following  principles  : — 

1.  Public  control  over  the  whole  system  of  secular 
education. 

2.  No  religious  test  to  be  imposed  by  the  State  for 
appointment  or  promotion  in  the  teaching  pro- 
fession. 


228  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

We  ask 

1.  That  parents  shall  be  invited  to  notify  what  kind  of 

religious    teaching    they  desire    their  children    to 
receive. 

2.  That   this   religious   teaching   be   given   within  the 

school  hours. 

3.  That  the  rehgious  body  indicated  by  the  parents 

shall  be  given  the  opportunity  of  providing  the 
teaching  desired. 

4.  That  all  such  religious  instruction  shall  be  given  and 

paid  for  by  the  religious  bodies  concerned. 

5.  That    no    State   teacher   shall   be   prohibited   from 

giving  such  instruction. 

In  fact,  we  ask  for  simple  equality  of  treatment  for  all 
forms  of  religious  teaching,  denominational  and  undenomi- 
national. 

On  April  10,  he  writes  to  Dr.  Talbot : — 

I  sat  with  Richmond  last  night  and  howled  at  the  Bill. 
It  is  a  biting  disappointment.  It  concedes  the  absolute 
minimum  to  the  voluntary  schools  and  nothing  to  the 
others.  We  thought  it  meant  a  desperate  policy  last  night : 
but  are  calmer  this  morning.  One  strong  point  to  make 
for,  is  that  the  policy  should  at  least  be  uniform  for  both 
kinds  of  schools.  Birr  ell  prides  himself  on  having  brought 
both  into  line  with  one  another ;  and  then  at  once  sets 
to  work  to  establish  difference  of  treatment  on  a  vital 
point.  We  ought  at  least  to  claim  for  parents  an  equal 
right  whether  in  one  set  of  schools  or  the  other.  I  gather 
that  the  transference  of  the  trust  schools  will  give  us  lever 
enough  to  press  our  claims.  We  stiU  have  a  valuable 
asset :  is  it  possible  so  to  use  it  as  to  enforce  equitable 
conditions  in  the  provided  schools  ?  I  feel  all  the  talk  about 
the  Protestant  religion  to  be  a  mere  sham.  The  great 
Protestant  religion  is  full  of  spiritual  issues — life  and  death, 
remission  of  sins,  cross  and  passion,  redemption — none  of 
this  will  appear  in  the  ordinary  Biblical  instruction.  I 
cannot  help  feehng  there  is  a  great  deal  in  Macdonald's 
statement  that  this  instruction  establishes  no  religion  at 
all  and  leaves  nothing  behind  it  but  a  dead  memory  of 
tiresome  facts. 


1904  TO  1910  229 

I  just  met  Bob  Cecil,  who  thinks  Birrell  will  have  great 
difficulties,  both  with  Romans  ^and  Nonconformists,  but 
is  not  very  hopeful  of  pressing  better  terms.  I  suppose 
the  financial  terms  are  good. 

Birrell  apparently  did  not  explain  what  degree  of  demand 
from  parents  will  ensure  the  ordinary  facilities  in  the  non- 
provided  schools.  I  will  write  again  as  soon  as  anything 
happens. 

In  Commonwealth,  in  June,  he  puts  the  case  against  the 
Bill  :— 

A  speech  like  Mr.  Bryce's  is  enough  to  make  one  sit  down 
and  cry.  He  actually  believes  we  can  still  sUp  along 
with  the  old  makeshift  compromises  of  the  Cowper-Temple 
clause,  and  expect  to  find  Christianity  as  robust  and  vital 
as  it  was  in  the  first  three  centuries,  when  according  to 
him  it  won  its  victories  without  a  creed  or  symbol.  Has  he 
ever  read  any  one  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles  ?  Can  he  have 
ever  formed  an  estimate  of  the  vehement  and  concentrated 
form  of  articulated  belief  which  throbs  in  every  syllable  of 
those  passionate  pages — a  belief  to  which  the  Apostle  can 
appeal  as  to  an  indisputable  and  established  energy  of  the 
entire  Body  ?  As  an  historical  fact,  Christianity,  as  soon 
as  we  come  across  it  at  all  in  its  earliest  known  form,  is 
already  a  Body  compacted  together  by  a  formulated  and 
coherent  Creed.  .  .  . 

What  have  we  been  about,  all  these  years,  that  we 
should  have  so  utterly  failed  to  create  an  impression,  a 
tradition,  an  ideal,  of  a  Church  of  the  living  God ;  of  a 
believing  Society,  organised  to  declare  the  truth  that  its 
own  spiritual  experience  can  justify  it  in  pronouncing 
authoritative  ?  Only  the  believing  Body  can  declare 
what  it  is  that  it  believes.  Only  it  can  teach  it ;  for  it  alone 
knows  what  it  has  got  to  teach.  It  alone  can  say  what 
its  own  Book  means  to  it.  And  this  interpretation  of  its 
own  life  is  the  Creed  which  it  claims,  not  in  the  least  to 
impose  on  outsiders  by  authority,  but  to  transmit  to  its 
own  believing  children,  as  their  normal  and  sanctioned 
heritage  through  belonging  to  the  Body. 

But  what  is  the  good  of  talking  of  this  ?  We  have 
not  succeeded  in  getting  anybody  to  remember  that  we 
exist,  as  a  Church  of  God.     They  are  simply  bothered  to 


230  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

death,  when  they  hear  of  it ;    and  bHnk  and  gape,  as  if 
some  novel  beast  had  broken  out  of  the  Zoo. 

Only  the  Labour  men  appear  to  understand  us.  They, 
at  least,  talk  in  a  language  that  we  can  accept.  They 
know  what  a  religion  ought  to  look  like,  if  it  is  a  religion 
at  all.  They  know  that  it  cannot  be  made  up  by  a  pre- 
scription from  the  chemist.  They  know  that  it  must  have 
a  seat  and  a  source  somehow  outside  and  beyond  civic  and 
secular  officials.  They  know  that  to  do  its  work  in  a  tough 
world  of  facts  and  flesh  and  blood,  it  must  have  grit  and 
grip.  It  must  be  sure  of  its  own  conviction.  It  must 
have  a  background,  and  must  realise  itself  in  fellowship. 
It  must  be  plain  to  all  that  it  is  a  spiritual  affair  and  works 
on  spiritual  lines.  It  cannot  be  taught  by  those  who  do 
not  profess  to  believe  it.  All  this  they  see  and  know  :  and 
we  and  they  can  perfectly  understand  one  another,  even 
when  we  differ  in  the  conclusions  that  we  draw.  With 
them,  we  are  out  of  the  fog. 

Other  events  of  1906  were  the  Sweated  Industries 
Exhibition  at  Queen's  Hall,  and  the  formation  of  the 
Anti-Sweating  League  :  the  publication  of  the  Report  of 
the  Commission  on  Ecclesiastical  Discipline,  "  a  momentous 
and  honourable  land-mark  in  the  long,  strange  history  of 
the  Church  established  in  these  Realms  "  :  the  attention 
given  to  Christian  Socialist  speakers  at  the  Church  Congress  : 
and  the  publication  of  the  English  Hymnal.  He  was  one 
of  its  editors.  By  October,  more  than  126,000  copies  had 
been  printed.  An  edition  with  music  was  published  by 
Dr.  Vaughan  Williams.  Some  objection  was  raised  against 
one  or  two  of  the  hymns  :  and  this  or  that  change  was 
made. 


1907-1910 

In  June,  1907,  his  sister  Amy  died,  after  a  long  illness. 
In  February,  he  had  written  of  her,  to  Mrs.  Spencer 
Holland  :— 


1904  TO  1910  231 

She  is  quite  wonderful :  so  well,  so  bright,  so  good,  so 
thoughtful,  so  natural.  I  could  not  have  believed  that 
she  would  have  had  such  force.  She  has  those  unknown 
founts  on  which  to  draw,  which  have  so  often  surprised  us. 
Nothing  could  be  sweeter.  Only,  it  intensifies  the  horrible 
sense  that  she  is  being  murdered.  But  that  is  mere 
illusion.  She  will  come  through.  She  will  be  given  her 
time.  I  shall  count  on  that,  in  all  my  prayers.  All  else 
is  dark.  But  the  Sacrament  this  morning  had  somehow 
its  old  strength  of  assurance  :  it  seemed  to  make  all  things 
clean,  body  and  spirit  alike.  And  it  bade  us  at  all  times, 
however  blind,  at  all  places  in  our  lives,  however  clouded, 
to  give  thanks,  and  to  sing  out  our  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy." 
We  aU  creep  up  at  the  time.     God  keep  us  all  in  Peace. 

He  wi'ites  to  Miss  Evelyn  Holland,  on  June  17  : — 

You  know.  It  means  the  passing-out  of  the  inner 
secret  of  our  home  joy.  She  was  its  spring.  Always 
dear,  cheerful,  fresh,  sweet,  tender,  quick.  Every  thought 
of  her  is  blessed :  every  memory  good.  Fifty  perfect 
years.    Thank  God. 

This  year,  the  University  of  Oxford  gave  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Letters.  Lord  Curzon  writes 
to  him,  May  2  : — 

Though  we  have  not  met  for  years,  I  retain  many 
friendly  and  agreeable  recollections  of  old  days  :  and  I 
should  esteem  it  the  highest  honour  if  you  would  accept 
the  Hon.  D.  Litt.  at  my  hands  at  my  Installation  Ceremony 
in  the  Encoenia  at  Oxford  on  June  26.  The  honour,  which 
is  the  best  that  Oxford  can  give,  would  be  our  tribute  to 
literary  achievements  in  the  pulpit  and  at  the  desk  of 
the  highest  order,  which  have  conferred  distinction  on 
Oxford  and  great  benefit  upon  your  fellow-countrymen. 

In  April,  he  writes  in  Commonwealth  of  the  L.C.C. 
elections  :  he  is  furious  over  the  defeat  of  the  Progressives, 
and  the  tactics  of  the  Moderates  : — 

One  last  complaint  remains.  We  have  never  seen  an 
election  fought,  in  the  press  and  in  the  placards,  with  such 


232  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

shameless  disregard  for  all  that  is  square,  fair,  and  true. 
Some  newspapers  on  the  Moderate  side,  to  the  infinite 
disgust  of  all  good  Moderates,  appeared  to  suppose  that 
any  lie  that  lived  a  day  would  do.  The  attempt  to  bribe 
the  unemployed  to  demonstrate — to  exploit  human  misery 
for  an  electioneering  trick — at  the  very  moment  when  the 
L.C.C.  was  being  accused  of  pampering  the  pauper,  and  of 
spending  the  hard-earned  gains  of  the  heavily-rated  on 
hare-brained  schemes  for  the  comfort  of  the  loafer  and 
the  wastrel,  was  a  piece  of  cynical  buffoonery  which  met 
with  the  disaster  that  it  richly  deserved.  The  odious 
picture,  on  which  thousands  of  pounds  must  have  been 
spent  to  plaster  it  over  every  wall  and  board  in  London, 
of  the  brutal,  wicked,  hard,  sensual  face,  with  its  motto, 
"  It's  your  money  we  want,"  was  no  fair  weapon  at  all. 
It  was  not  caricature  :  for  it  had  no  relation  to  the  facts. 
The  Progressive  majority  had  its  faults :  it  made  its 
blunders  :  it  was  pedantic,  sometimes  :  it  tied  itself  up  in 
its  own  red  tape  :  it  might  show  itself  arrogant :  or  wrong- 
headed.  But  never  from  first  to  last  had  it  touched  the 
base  and  cruel  world  which  was  embodied  in  the  beastly 
face. 

In  September,  in  a  review  of  Mr.  Reginald  Bray's 
"  The  Town  Child,"  he  declares  his  belief  that  the  town 
may  inspire  children  as  much  as  the  country,  and  more  : — 

After  all,  that  revelation  through  Nature  comes  to  its 
crown  through  Nature's  finest  instrument,  Man.  And  we 
have  a  religion,  which  finds  in  humanity  the  special  expres- 
sion of  God's  life.  And  it  is  in  the  town,  as  Mr.  Bray 
continually  says,  that  the  human  prevails,  and  that  man  is 
in  fullest  possession  of  himself.  Therefore,  there  should 
be,  through  the  town,  through  humanity  upgathered  into 
towns,  a  finer  and  richer  and  deeper  and  more  pregnant 
manifestation  of  what  God  actually  is,  than  in  Nature  alone. 
Something  ought  to  emerge,  through  the  city  and  its  throngs, 
which  carries  us  nearer  to  God's  heart  than  woods  and  water, 
hills  or  sun  and  moon.  God  looks  through  human  eyes  : 
God  is  to  be  heard  through  human  talk  :  God  is  to  be  felt 
in  the  movement  of  human  multitudes  :  in  a  more  tingling 
intimacy  than  can  ever  be  won  out  of  running  rivers  and 
silent  stars.    That   is  our  Gospel  in   Christ   Jesus  :     and 


1904  TO  1910  233 

that  is  why  His  Gospel  flung  itself,  from  the  first,  into  the 
tumult  of  the  town,  and  found  its  true  home  in  the  crowded 
courts  of  cities,  while  it  so  slowly  gained  a  hearing  from  the 
pagans  in  the  country-side.  .  .  . 

Ah  !  The  town  has  its  religious  secret :  its  revelation 
of  God  to  make  !  We  must  guide  the  town  child  into  its 
mystery,  so  that,  whatever  he  may  learn  of  God's  stability 
and  awe  through  "  the  silence  that  is  in  the  starry  sky, 
the  sleep  that  is  among  the  lonely  hills,"  he  can  enter  into 
the  Sanctuary  of  God's  heart,  with  yet  more  intensity  and 
passion,  through  the  energetic  vitality  of  moving  multi- 
tudes, and  the  throbbing  intimacy  of  civic  brotherhood. 
For,  indeed,  the  "  far-off  Divine  event,"  towards  which 
he  moves,  is  no  Garden  of  dumb  woodland  glades,  but  a 
City,  with  full  streets,  where  the  girls  and  boys  are  playing, 
and  where  multitudes  that  no  man  can  number  fill  the  air 
with  the  thunder  of  their  massed  voices. 

In  the  spring  of  1908,  Gayton  Lodge  was  finally  given 
up  :  he  writes  to  Mr.  G.  W.  E.  Russell : — 

I  was  away,  saying  goodbye  to  Gayton  Lodge.  It 
goes  on  May  ist.  It  will  be  my  last  sight  of  the  poor  old 
place.  47  years  of  life  flung  away  behind  !  It  is  a  big 
up-rooting.  All  the  memories  of  father,  mother,  brother, 
sister — all  dead.  I  went  round  the  rooms  :  and  prayed. 
So  ugly,  the  Victorian  house.  Yet  so  charged  with  tender- 
ness. And  I  have  loved  the  Common — with  its  windy 
breadths  of  brown  colour.  The  poor  brother  [Arthur]  is 
very  sad  ;  packing,  burning,  clearing.  So  I  could  not  have 
seen  you.     God  bless  you. 

On  June  13,  1908,  in  the  Sheldonian  Theatre,  he  gave 
the  Romanes  Lecture,  on  "The  Optimism  of  Butler's 
Analogy."  In  1897,  at  Hawarden,  he  had  read  some  proofs 
of  Mr.  Gladstone's  edition ;  and  had  written  to  Mrs.  Drew, 
"  The  only  wonder  is  that  your  father,  of  all  men,  should 
impose  on  himself  such  immense  and  intricate  labour. 
I  could  only  have  elaborately  praised  him,  if  I  had  spoken  : 
and  this  would  have  been  impudent.     So  I  was  silent,  in 


234  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

handing  back  the  proofs.  I  am  sorry,  if  I  seemed  by  that 
uninterested.  As  to  Butler  himself,  who  is  of  profound 
interest  to  me,  I  wanted  to  talk.  I  would  gladly  have 
leaped  at  flies.  I  am  so  very  anxious  that  the  constructive 
side  of  the  Analogy  should  be  brought  out  into  prominence 
over  the  negative  arguments,  which  are  apt  to  stick  in  men's 
minds."  He  hesitated  between  the  title  which  he  finally 
chose  for  his  Romanes  Lecture,  and  an  alternative  title, 
"  The  Constructive  Value  of  Bishop  Butler." 

Even  one  who  has  never  got  further  than  Holland 
when  he  was  23 — "  I  have  made  various  attempts  on 
Butler's  Analogy,  but  always  come  out  stifled  and  suffo- 
cated " — can  put  himself  under  the  sway  of  this  Romanes 
Lecture.  It  is  the  highest  achievement  of  all  Holland's 
literary  work.  But  if  he  intended  it  to  revive  the  study 
of  Butler's  Analogy,  he  ought  to  have  written  it  differently. 
There  cannot  be  anything  in  the  Analogy  so  delightful,  or 
so  well  worth  reading. 

One  phrase  in  a  letter  of  1909  must  have  a  place  here  : 
it  was  written  of  a  bride  on  her  wedding-day — "  God  bless 
the  delicious  little  sunny  head  of  that  beautiful  dream  of 
a  girl " — and  one  passage  from  his  writings  in  1909  in 
Commonwealth.  It  comes  in  a  long  article  on  the  Poor 
Law  Report.  He  describes  the  failure  of  the  old  deterrent 
system  :   then  he  says — 

Deterrence  !  That  was  the  key-word  :  and,  no  doubt, 
there  is  a  poverty  which  is  criminal,  and  needs  the  penalty 
of  deterrence.  But  is  all  poverty  of  this  type  ?  What  of 
the  invalids  ?  the  weak-minded  ?  of  the  infirm,  the  anaemic, 
the  inadequate  ?  What  of  the  imbecile,  the  epileptic  ? 
What,  again,  of  the  children  of  these  invalids,  these  imbe- 
ciles ?  And  what  of  the  aged,  the  broken,  the  unfortunate  ? 
And  yet  again,  what  of  the  able-bodied  out  of  work  ?  Are 
all  these  to  fall  under  the  blight  of  deterrence  ?  Are  all 
these  to  be  tarred  with  one  brush  ?     Are  all  these  to  be 


1904  TO   1910  235 

thrust  down  under  the  tainting  curse,  under  the  ignominy 
of  pauperism  ?  That  is,  somehow,  what  happened.  We 
herded  them  pell-mell  and  aimlessly  together  in  common 
mixed  workliouses.  We  could  not  relieve  the  workers  except 
through  the  disgrace  of  the  casual  ward :  we  convicted  them 
of  being  unworthy  of  honourable  citizenship  by  the  very 
act  of  giving  them  relief.  We  allowed  armies  of  children 
to  grow  up  under  the  cloud  of  their  parents'  shame.  .  .  . 

They  are  no  longer,  for  us,  a  bUnd  mass  of  grey  ghosts, 
condemned  to  wander,  in  shiftless  hordes,  through  some 
dim  and  pitiable  Hades,  cast  out  of  life  and  the  light  of  the 
sun,  sustained  in  niggardly  existence,  contemptible  and 
ashamed.  Rather,  we  go  down  into  the  thick  of  it  ourselves, 
in  order  to  discover  for  how  many  we  are  ourselves  nationally 
responsible.  Every  one  is  of  individual  worth  :  and  has 
made  a  separate  arrival.  Each  must  be  considered  for 
itself :  each  must  be  understood,  and  treated,  and  placed. 
Some  there  are,  no  doubt,  who  may  rightly  come  under 
the  discipline  of  deterrence.  But  these  others  ?  These 
weaklings  ?'  These  defectives  ?  These  invalids  ?  It  is  not 
deterrence  that  they  need  :  but  a  welcome  :  a  hospital  : 
a  home.  The  life  that  we  have  built  up,  with  its  awful 
pressure,  with  its  relentless  haste,  with  its  clanging  me- 
chanism, has  been  too  much  for  them.  They  cannot  live 
at  its  level.  It  is  no  fault  of  theirs.  It  is  much  more 
likely  to  be  ours  :  who  have  housed  them  in  slums,  and 
taken  their  mothers  from  them  to  toil  in  our  factories  : 
and  have  given  them  no  chance  of  sweet  air,  and  clean 
habits,  and  leisure,  and  refreshment,  and  joy.  We  are 
under  obligations  to  them  :  in  reparation  for  our  misdoings, 
we  must  ease  their  days  :  for  Christ's  sake,  we  must  cherish 
their  ills.  We  owe  them  honour,  because  they  are  poor, 
and  weak,  and  helpless. 

On  March  23,  1910,  to  a  friend,  on  Dr.  King's  death  * : — 

There  are  days  that  are  quite  alive  with  him,  all  through 
Oxford.     And  it  is  horrible  to  be  asked  to  let  them  go,  and 

*  There  is  a  letter  to  him,  March  3,  from  Prebendary  Wilgress,  who 
for  sixteen  years  was  the  Bishop's  chaplain.  "  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
sends  you  '  his  love  and  blessing  ;  and  thanks  for  all  your  love  ' — and  to 
say  '  All  works  out  most  wonderfully.  It  is  all  true.  God  is  perfect 
Love  and  perfect  Wisdom.'  He  is,  I  grieve  to  say,  irrecoverably  ill,  but 
he  lives-on  a  little  yet.     He  is  wonderfully  peaceful,  and  happy." 


236  HENRY  SCOTI    HOLLAND 

to  have  no  talk  again  that  belongs  to  the  loved  past,  and 
laugh  the  old  dear  laughs.  We  shall  never  again  see 
anything  so  beautiful  as  he  was.  He  told  of  the  wonders 
of  Grace,  by  every  look  and  word.  Yet  all  was  natural, 
and  utterly  himself.  Oh  dear  !  We  must  all  cling  together, 
who  remain  :  and  tell  each  other  how  we  knew  and  how 
we  loved  him. 


With  the  end  of  1910,  came  the  end  of  his  twenty-six 
years  in  London.  The  Prime  Minister  proposed  that 
Dr.  Strong,  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  now  Bishop  of  Ripon, 
should  become  Dean  of  Westminster  ;  and  that  Dr.  Holland 
should  become  either  Dean  of  Christ  Church  or  Regius 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  Oxford.* 


To  Dr.  Talbot 

Oldham.  Nov.  30, 1910. — Dearest  man,  Asquith  proposes 
to  move  T.  B,  S.  to  Westminster :  and  writes  offering  me 
the  choice  between  the  Regius  Professorship  !  !  !  and  the 
Deanery.  In  spite  of  my  one  and  only  disciple,  Neville, 
I  have  written  to  him  explaining  the  absurdity  of  the  first 
proposal.  For  thirty  years  I  have  ceased  to  have  the  power 
to  read  or  study.  We  must  have  a  scientific  theologian 
honourably  representing  learning.  I  could  not  do  it.  I 
should  feel  myself  a  scandal. 

But  the  Deanery — a  curious  post  for  me.  I  have  told 
him  that  it  ought  to  have  a  scholar  :  and  I  have  abso- 
lutely no  scholarship  whatever  about  me.  I  could  only 
manage  the  scholastic  side  by  deputy.  Then — am  I  not 
too  old  to  begin  ?  I  am  "  nervy  "  of  late,  under  strain. 
I  quake.  On  the  other  hand,  I  know  the  thing  from  inside  : 
and  could,  perhaps,  manage.  Have  I  physical  force  ? 
The  Dean  is  to  be   the  next  Vice-Chancellor,  f     I   don't 

•  It  appears  that  there  was  some  confusion  over  the  procedure  of 
proposing  these  appointments. 

t  He  was  mistaken  here.  The  Vice-Chancellorship  goes  to  the  Colleges 
not  in  any  order  of  Colleges,  but  to  the  Heads  in  the  order  of  their  appoint- 
ment as  Heads. 


1904  TO   1910  237 

think  I  could  get  through  the  interminable  business  of  long 
sittings.  Could  I  pass  it  ?  Altogether  what  would  you 
say  ?  I  have  sent  Asquith's  very  kind  letter  to  Gore.  I 
suggested  to  Asquith  that  he  might  talk  it  over  with  you. 
But  how  will  he  get  time  ?  Tommy  would  be  ideal  at 
Westminster.  I  had  not  ever  thought  of  leaving  St. 
Paul's. 

Dec.  I,  1910.  St.  James's  Vicarage,  Preston. — ^Dearest 
of  Friends,  You  are  too  good  to  me.  Your  faith  in  me 
touches  my  very  soul.  I  can  hardly  understand  it.  For 
(apart  perhaps  from  St.  John)  I  reaUy  know  nothing  as  it 
ought  to  be  known.  There  is  no  subject  mastered.  I 
have  not  material :  nor  store.  Nothing  in  order.  And 
whole  realms  of  theology  of  which  I  am  blankly  ignorant.  I 
could  not  help  being  found  out,  in  the  Chair.  And  at 
emergencies,  I  should  be  impotent.  I  cannot  make  up  for 
it,  by  reading  now :  for  I  have  not  the  physical  power. 
Really,  this  is  not  false  modesty.  It  is  sheer  fact.  Asquith, 
as  you  see,  accepts  this  much. 

Gore  is  greatly  against  the  Deanery.  He  would  rather 
the  other :  but  accepts  my  verdict  on  myself.  He  does 
not  at  all  see  me  in  a  post  of  academic  administration — 
would  rather  leave  me  at  St.  Paul's. 

I,  Amen  Court.  Dec.  9,  1910. — ^Dearest  Man,  Gore 
was  so  excited  by  the  sight  of  your  letter  and  Strong's  to 
me  that  he  wrote  off  to  the  Central  Authority,  asking  him 
to  re-open  the  thing,  and  to-day  he  has  done  it,  so  I  suppose 
it  will  have  to  be  accepted.  You  are  all  too  good  about  it — 
I  do  not  know  what  will  happen  and  how  I  shall  manage. 


To  W.  H.  Ady 

Dec.  1910. — I  have  no  time  to  write  about  it.  You 
know  how  I  bless  you  for  believing  that  I  really  can  do  it. 
It  seems  to  me  too  absurd  and  incredible.  But  "  the 
Learned  "  have  been  wonderful  in  their  welcome.  We  must 
try.  As  it  is,  there  is  St.  Paul's  to  leave.  That  will  take 
me  all  my  time.  They  are  too  overpoweringly  affectionate 
towards  me.  Some  day,  we  must  talk.  Tell  Julia,  I  count 
on  her  for  one  thing,  i.e.  to  assure  me  that  the  Post- 
Impressionists  are  sheer  rot,  and  that  Roger  Fry  is  pulling 
our  legs.     Please  say  that  is  true,  or  I  am  lost. 


238  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Many  had  hoped  that  he  would  stay  on  at  St.  Paul's 
till  he  should  be  Dean  Gregory's  successor.*  He  writes 
from  Christ  Church,  in  March  1911,  "The  dear  old  man 
hung  on  so  long  out  of  affection  for  me.  It  seemed  to  him 
all  right,  as  long  as  I  was  there  to  whom  he  was  used.  He 
has  always  wished  me  to  succeed  him.  He  has  said  so 
over  and  over  again.  But  this  got  blurred  through 
illness.  As  it  is,  it  is  better  for  me  to  make  a  new 
start  in  the  old  House.  There  is  a  great  lift  in  making  a 
beginning.  And  they  are  so  warm  and  affectionate  to  me 
here." 

Parting  gifts  came,  and  so  many  letters  of  congratu- 
lation that  he  had  to  use  a  printed  acknowledgment.  The 
newspapers  bore  witness  to  his  eloquence,  and  to  his  zeal 
for  social  redemption :  it  disappointed  him,  that  none  of 
them  said  anything  about  his  philosophical  teaching. 

We  in  London  grudged  him  to  Oxford :  and  we  were 
not  far  wrong.  We  could  not  afford  to  lose  one  of  our 
major  prophets.  What  was  the  good  of  Oxford  to  Scott 
Holland,  after  twenty-six  years  in  London  ?  That  is  how 
we  felt :  and  perhaps  he  was  touched  with  the  same  feeling. 
But  he  refused  to  be  solemn  over  his  departure.  At  the 
moment  of  leaving  Amen  Court,  he  smote  on  the  knocker, 
said  "  Goodbye,  old  door,"  and  went  off.  In  April,  1911, 
he  writes  from  Christ  Church,  to  Laurence  Stratford,  "  It 
is  wonderful  to  be  here.  Alice  and  her  crew  are  all  inside 
the  new  home.  She  misses  her  London.  The  '  tweenies  ' 
are  all  frisky  and  gay.  The  van  has  disgorged  everything, 
with  amazing  rapidity.  And  now — to  get  it  all  in  !  ! 
Dreadful !  They  gave  us  glorious  furniture  on  leaving. 
I  do  not  know  how  to  live  up  to  it.    And  the  boys  gave  me 

*  Dean  Gregory  placed  his  resignation  in  the  Prime  Minister's  hands 
in  February,  191 1,  to  take  effect  on  May  i.  It  was  arranged  that  he  should 
not  have  to  leave  the  Deanery.     He  died  on  Aug.  2,  igii. 


1904  TO   1910  239 

a  new  hat,  so  I  had  to  promise  to  offer  up  my  old  one  for 
kickabout  on  the  roof." 

He  pubHshed,  in  1910,  a  short  memoir  of  Bishop 
Westcott,  and  a  series  of  Commonwealth  articles,  under  the 
title  "  Fibres  of  Faith  "  :  a  bad  title  :  for,  as  his  Introduc- 
tion says,  he  was  thinking  not  in  terms  of  structure,  but 
in  terms  of  development :  "  Our  present  faith  is  the  product 
of  a  process  which  has  in  it  centuries  of  gradual  or  growing 
experience  :  and  each  individual  believer  re-enacts,  in  a 
sense  and  in  his  degree,  the  entire  process ;  even  as  the 
physical  embryo  gathers  up  the  story  of  the  race.  When 
once  the  individual  faith,  therefore,  is  under  challenge,  it 
can  only  recover  justification  by  going  back  on  the  history 
secreted  within  it.  That  is  why  I  have  desired  to  show  how 
the  various  formulae  of  our  historic  creed  emerge,  not  as 
separate  headings,  but  as  moments  in  our  organic  growth, 
out  of  the  sequence  of  necessary  experience  through  which 
our  own  individual  effort  in  belief  has  to  pass." 


VI 

holland  and  the  christian  social  union 
By  Bishop  Gore 

The  reader  of  this  memoir  will  look  elsewhere  for  an  account 
of  the  origins  of  the  Christian  Social  Union,  and  the  various 
persons  engaged  in  it.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  Holland 
was  the  centre  of  the  movement,  and  that  the  movement 
expressed  a  central  element  of  his  mind.  Thus  a  memoir 
of  Holland,  which  seeks  to  describe  the  whole  man,  must 
contain  some  adequate  account  of  that  in  him  of  which  the 
movement  was  the  expression,  and  of  the  way  in  which  he 
gave  expression  to  it  through  the  movement.  And  I  was 
so  close  to  this  part  of  his  life  that  I  was  invited,  and  could 
not  decline,  to  undertake  this  particular  chapter. 

From  time  to  time  a  new  "  movement  "  arises  in  our 
society.  That  means  that  a  certain  group  of  people, 
sufficiently  akin  to  one  another  in  their  general  mind, 
become  conscious  together  of  an  urgent  need  in  the  world 
in  which  they  are  living  to  emphasize  some  idea  or  group 
of  ideas  ;  and  they  associate  themselves  first  of  all  to  clarify 
and  give  precision  to  their  own  thought,  and  thereafter  by 
means  of  literature,  discussion,  public  meetings  or  whatever 
instrumentality  suggests  itself,  to  impress  their  idea  on  the 
public  or  on  the  church,  with  a  view  to  its  being  sufficiently 

widely  accepted  to  become  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  in 

240 


THE  CHRISTIAN   SOCIAL   UNION  241 

contemporary  society.  In  this  sense  the  Christian  Social 
Union  was  a  movement.  Its  motive  was  the  sense  that 
Christianity,  and  especially  the  Church  of  England,  had 
lamentably  failed  to  bear  its  social  witness — its  witness  to 
the  principles  of  divine  justice  and  human  brotherhood 
which  lie  at  its  heart.  It  had  left  the  economic  and 
industrial  world  to  build  itself  up  on  quite  fundamentally 
unchristian  premisses,  as  if  Christianity  had  got  nothing  to 
do  with  the  matter.  And  now  that  a  widespread  rebellion 
of  Labour  was  organizing  itself  against  the  economic  slavery 
of  the  workers,  and  against  a  condition  of  the  law  which 
seemed  to  regard  property  as  more  sacrosanct  than  persons, 
it  was  essential  that  at  least  by  a  tardy  act  of  repentance 
the  Christian  Church  should  bestir  itself  to  reconsider  and 
assert  its  own  principles  and  let  the  contending  parties  and 
the  apathetic  church-goers  see  that  it  was  nothing  less  than 
essential  Christianity  that  was  at  stake. 

The   makers   of   the   movement   were   people   of   very 
different  experiences,  though  they  were  at  one  in    being 
Churchmen.    There  were  students  of  theology,  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  of  the  Christian  Fathers,  and  students  of 
economics  who  were  conscious  of  the  trend  of  economic 
doctrine  away  from  the  old  "  orthodox  "  standpoint  repre- 
sented by  Ricardo.    There  were  readers,  who  would  hardly 
have  accounted  themselves  as  professed  students,  who  had 
been  fired  or  inspired  by  the  works  of  Maurice  or  Kingsley 
or  by  Ecce  Homo.    There  were  those,  both  men  and  women, 
who  had  plunged  into  the  Settlement  movement,  then  at 
its  height,  under  the  passionate  impulse  of  sympathy  for 
the  masses  of  men  and  women  and  children  in  the  slums 
of  great  cities  who  were  being  exploited  in  the  interests 
of  the  possessors  and  accumulators  of  wealth.     There  were 
workers  like  Miss  Gertrude  Tuckwell  and  Miss  Constance 
Smith  for  the  uplift  of  women.    There  were  clergy  or  church 

R 


242  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

workers  who  found  their  whole  spiritual  work  blocked  by 
the  gross  injustice  of  social  conditions.  But  they  were 
all  at  one  in  feeling  that  the  principles  and  life  and  spirit 
of  Jesus  Christ  had  very  much  to  do  with  the  social  question, 
and  would  be  found  on  serious  investigation  to  have  both 
an  illuminating  power  to  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  relations 
of  man  to  man,  and  an  explosive  force  in  the  struggle  against 
injustice  and  the  exploiting  of  the  weak,  which  could  not 
be  equalled  anywhere  else. 

So  the  movement  arose  and  took  shape.  It  was  not 
new.  There  had  been  the  Christian  SociaUsts  of  the 
generation  before,  with  Frederick  Denison  Maurice  for  their 
prophet :  but  they  had  left  no  organ  of  their  spirit  for  our 
use.  There  was  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew :  but,  while  we 
felt  very  grateful  to  it,  it  did  not  in  some  ways  suit  our 
purposes.  So  the  movement  agreed  to  find  its  organ  in  a 
new  Society,  and  the  Christian  Social  Union  was  the  result. 
It  was  to  be  a  non-political  body  in  the  sense  that  it  did 
not  identify  itself  with  any  particular  scheme  or  platform 
of  economic  or  political  reconstruction.  No  doubt,  in  the 
general  sense  of  the  term  "socialist,"  in  which  socialism 
expresses  the  antithesis  to  the  individualism  of  the  laissez- 
faire  policy,  it  could  not  escape  the  charge  of  socialism : 
but  so  far  as  socialism  was  a  name  for  a  particular  theory 
or  group  of  theories  involving  the  necessity  for  state  owner- 
ship of  the  materials  and  instruments  of  industry,  it  refused 
to  be  socialist  or  to  tie  its  members  to  any  particular  plat- 
form of  reconstructive  politics. 

Again,  while  not  at  all  inclined  to  disparage  religious 
bodies  other  than  the  Church  of  England,  it  felt  its  primary 
function  was  to  awaken  the  Church,  which  was  called  the 
national  church,  and  was  thereby  specially  bound  to  think 
for  the  whole  nation,  to  the  social  duties  which,  if  it  wished 
to  claim  the  names  of  Christian  or  Catholic,  it  could  not 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SOCIAL  UNION  243 

ignore.  So  it  limited  its  membership  to  Church  people. 
Only  Church  people,  it  felt,  could  awaken  the  Church. 
Only  Church  people,  sharing  the  same  sacramental  system, 
could  awaken  their  fellows  to  the  real  social  meaning  of 
their  baptism,  their  confirmation  and  their  holy  communion. 
Thus  it  decided  that  the  Christian  Social  Union  should  be 
a  union  of  Church  people,  without  any  preference  given  to 
High  or  Low  or  Broad,  who  were  agreed  upon  the  necessity 
of  awakening  the  Church  to  the  social  implications  of  its 
Creed  and  Bible  and  Sacraments,  and  were  agreed  further 
upon  the  need  of  fundamental  social  reconstruction,  if  their 
principles  were  to  find  real  expression  in  the  common  life 
of  England  to-day,  whether  they  called  themselves  Con- 
servatives or  Liberals  or  Radicals,  whether  they  accepted 
or  refused  the  name  of  Socialist. 

For  all  this  work  Holland  had  very  special  qualifications, 
over  and  above  those  which  came  from  his  brilliant  power 
as  a  thinker  and  speaker,  his  expansive  sympathy,  and  his 
contagious  enthusiasm. 

For  he  was  a  great  theologian,  and  the  theology  to  which 
his  whole  soul  responded  was  the  theology  of  St.  Paul 
and  St.  John,  and  of  the  great  Greeks  like  Origen  and 
Athanasius.  In  them  he  found  a  theology  which,  while 
it  insisted  with  all  its  force  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  very  God  in  very  manhood,  insisted  also  on 
giving  to  that  person  an  interpretation  which  was  nothing 
less  than  cosmic  and  humanitarian  in  the  widest  range  of 
the  terms.  The  first  occasion  on  which  I  really  got  to  know 
Holland's  mind  I  remember  very  well.  I  had  known  him 
from  my  childhood,  for  we  had  been  brought  up  together 
at  Wimbledon,  and  he  had  fascinated  me  as  a  remarkable 
actor  on  the  domestic  stage,  and  as  excelling  in  all  the 
physical  exercises  of  riding  and  swimming  and  skating  in 
which  I  felt  painfully  my  own  defects.     But  I  had  no  idea 


244  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

what  he  was  really  thinking  about  till,  just  about  1875, 
when  he  was  a  young  tutor  at  Christ  Church  and  I  was  taking 
my  degree,  I  found  him  one  day  tortured  over  having  to 
lecture  on  W.  H.  Mill's  then  famous  work  on  The  Mythical 
Interpretations  of  the  Gospels.  Holland  was  quite  at  one 
with  Mill  in  repudiating  the  mythical  or  symbolical  inter- 
pretation of  the  miraculous  facts  of  the  Christian  Creed 
such  as  the  Virgin  Birth  of  our  Lord  or  His  Resurrection. 
Neither  critically  nor  philosophically  nor  religiously  did 
such  an  interpretation  appeal  to  him.  He  was  throughout 
life  rationally  orthodox.  He  knew  the  supreme  value  of 
facts  :  "  Im  Anfang  war  die  That  "  would  always  have 
served  as  his  motto.  But  he  resented  profoundly  Mill's 
blindness,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  to  the  large  element  of  truth 
in  the  Hegelian  interpretation  of  the  Incarnation  as  a 
universal  fact — as  the  incarnation  of  the  Universal  Spirit 
or  Reason  in  humanity  as  a  whole,  in  all  its  movements 
and  aspects.  For  it  was  the  Word  who  was  made  flesh 
in  Jesus  Christ — the  Word  who,  prior  to  the  incarnation, 
was  the  being  "  in  whom  all  things  consist,"  the  spirit  of 
the  universal  order,  the  reason  of  the  universe,  whose  dis- 
closure of  Himself  is  to  be  found  centrally  in  the  man 
Christ  Jesus,  but  to  be  found  also  in  all  the  development  of 
the  world  and  in  aU  the  upward  movement  of  mankind. 
And  Holland  hailed  with  delight  an  orthodoxy,  coupled  with 
this  sort  of  universalism,  which  he  found  in  St.  Paul  and 
St.  John  and  the  Greeks,  and  did  not  find  in  the  stalwart 
modern  apologist. 

All  this  "  universalism  "  disposed  Holland  to  demand, 
as  a  peremptory  intellectual  necessity,  that  Christian 
doctrine,  as  an  exposition  of  the  particular  life  and  person 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  should  be  found  in  congruity  with  the 
whole  world  movement  towards  truth  and  justice,  which 
was  the  movement  of  the  same  eternal  Word  as  is  incarnate 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SOCIAL  UNION  245 

in  Jesus.  From  another  point  of  view,  the  PauHne  concep- 
tion of  the  risen  and  glorified  Christ  as  the  Head  of  the 
Body,  the  Church,  arrested  and  held  his  mind.  This 
essentially  Catholic  Church  was  to  be  for  action  in  the  world. 
Its  function  was  gradually  to  gather  into  the  redeemed 
humanity,  and  to  consecrate  in  the  one  body,  all  that  truly 
belongs  to  humanity,  till  "  the  glory  and  honour  "  of  all 
nations  had  been  brought  within  the  hght  of  the  Holy 
City.  The  Church  is  to  express  humanity  at  its  fullest 
and  best,  as  a  social  organism  or  universal  brotherhood. 
It  must  therefore  always,  in  the  social  arrangements  which 
it  originates  or  accepts,  be  thinking  of  its  fundamental 
principles  of  spiritual  equality  and  brotherly  fellowship, 
and  repudiating  every  arrangement  which  would  treat  any 
men  as  mere  instruments  for  the  enrichment  or  convenience 
of  others.  He  saw  how  the  Church  in  certain  periods  of 
its  life  and  in  certain  directions  had  striven  with  a  large 
measure  of  success  for  the  realization  of  these  great  humani- 
tarian principles.  But  he  saw  also  with  what  almost  in- 
credible apathy,  under  the  system  of  modern  industrialism, 
the  Church  of  recent  generations  had  allowed  them,  almost 
without  protest,  to  be  violated  or  ignored,  and  how,  in  the 
struggle  on  the  part  of  labour  for  better  conditions,  the 
Church  had  been  continually  on  the  wrong  side  :  and  he 
yearned  to  see  it  once  again  fulfilling  its  true  mission. 

He  had  great  positive  qualifications,  then,  as  a  theo- 
logical teacher,  for  the  leadership  of  the  new  movement ; 
and  he  was  quite  without  some  of  the  disqualifications 
which  have  sometimes  hindered  the  acceptance  by  Church- 
men of  this  sort  of  message.  There  have  been  and  there 
are  men  who  have  been  enthusiastic  preachers  of  the  social 
gospel,  who  have  sat  very  loosely  to  orthodoxy  of  belief, 
and  have  caused  people  to  identify  the  social  message  with 
lax  theology.  But  no  one  could  have  accused  Holland  of 
lax  theology.     His  whole  soul  beat  in  tune  with  the   great 


246  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

theology  of  the  creeds.  It  suppUed  him  with  all  the  motives 
and  principles  which  the  new  crusade  needed — not  only 
the  doctrine  of  the  incarnation,  as  interpreted  by  the 
Greek  Fathers,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made  : 
but  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Trinity  also,  which  is  implied 
in  it,  and  which  bids  us  see  in  God's  eternal  being  a  fellow- 
ship of  persons,  a  fellowship  of  love,  which  must  be  repro- 
duced in  every  society  of  men,  made  in  the  divine  image, 
if  they  would  be  true  to  their  origin  and  purpose  :  and 
also  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  and  the  sacraments,  as  the 
continuous  expression  of  the  incarnation,  which  at  every 
point  teaches  us  that  our  union  with  God  is  no  otherwise 
to  be  realized  than  in  the  fellowship  of  men  with  one  another. 
-  The  doctrine  of  the  incarnation,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  the  doctrine  of  redemption  through  sacrifice, 
the  doctrine  of  the  church  and  the  sacraments,  all  alike, 
as  Holland  profoundly  understood  them,  spoke  to  him  of 
social  duty  and  supplied  him  with  the  motives  and  forces 
for  social  redemption.  The  roots  of  Holland's  being,  as  a 
thinker  and  a  religious  man,  ran  deep  into  Catholic  theology, 
and  though  in  certain  directions  he  would  have  widened  the 
Tractarian  outlook,  he  never  showed  any  signs  of  deserting 
it.  Social  enthusiasm,  for  him,  flowed  inevitably  from 
that  fountain  and  that  fountain  alone. 

And  another  point  is  worth  noticing.  There  are  social 
reformers  who  are  fond  of  girding  at  the  Church  for  having 
concentrated  people's  attention  on  the  saving  of  their  own 
souls.  Holland  would  have  been  in  sympathy  with  them 
so  far  as  to  insist  always  that  "  the  elect  "  must  never  be 
suffered  to  forget  that  they  exist  in  order  to  make  manifest 
in  the  world  the  purpose  of  God  in  all  its  breadth,  and 
that  the  love  of  God  and  the  joy  in  absoltition  can  in  no 
other  way  be  shown  than  by  the  practical  love  of  our  brother 
man.  A  selfish  soul-saving  he  would  have  held  to  be  a 
contradiction  in  terms.     But  he  had  a  tremendous 'sense 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SOCIAL  UNION  247 

of  the  need  of  personal  self-discipline,  if  we  are  to  be  efficient 
instruments  for  God  or  co-operators  in  His  purpose.  Thus 
he  appreciated  profoundly  all  that  rigid  self-suppression, 
and  painful  penitence,  by  which  the  old  Tractarians  had 
purged  their  souls  of  vanity  and  jealousy  and  ambition  and 
worldliness.  And  no  one  ever  heard  him  breathe  a  word  of 
depreciation  for  the  ancient  methods  of  spiritual  discipline. 

Nor  was  he  ever  a  man  of  one  enthusiasm,  harping 
always  on  one  string.  He  was  as  keen  in  the  cause  of  the 
White  Cross  League  for  sexual  purity,  and  in  the  missionary 
cause,  as  in  the  cause  which  found  expression  in  the  Christian 
Social  Union. 

But  perhaps  on  no  platform  was  he  quite  so  much 
himself  as  on  the  platform  of  the  C.S.U.  Year  after  year 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Union  was  held  in  some  city — 
Newcastle,  Manchester,  Birmingham,  Cheltenham,  and  many 
others — to  which  we  were  invited  by  the  local  branch  of  the 
Union.  And  on  the  evening  preceding  the  gathering  of  the 
Council,  there  was  a  great  open  meeting  in  the  largest  avail- 
able hall,  at  which  our  great  President  Dr.  Westcott,  so  long 
as  he  lived,  was  in  the  chair  and  Holland  was  one  of  the 
speakers.  I  heard  him  under  these  conditions  again  and 
again,  and  I  never  heard  him  speak  more  brilliantly.  Dr. 
Westcott 's  addresses  have  many  of  them  been  printed, 
and  stand  as  memorials  of  the  fact  that  great  pubUc  meetings, 
and  meetings  of  the  "  workers,"  do  not  need  to  be  "  talked 
down  to,"  but  will  listen  with  sustained  interest  to  the 
exposition  of  profound  principles.  Holland  also  enunci- 
ated profound  principles  at  these  meetings  :  but  nothing 
could  have  been  less  Uke  Westcott 's  meditations  uttered 
aloud  than  Holland's  speeches.  They  were  indeed  speeches  : 
intensely  personal  addresses  of  a  man  to  men — rhetorical 
in  the  truest  sense  of  the  term,  in  that  they  conveyed  real 
thought,  inspired  of  vivid  purpose,  through  all  the  media 
of  appeal. 


248  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

He  was  brilliantly  witty.  For  instance — ^he  was  arguing 
for  giving  a  suitable  basis  and  sanction  to  the  principle  that 
the  living  wage  for  the  worker  should  be  first  charge  upon 
every  industry.  He  was  confronted  with  all  the  talk — the 
outcome  of  the  old  laissez-faire  doctrine — against  "  grand- 
motherly legislation."  He  had  a  real  social  philosophy 
deep  in  his  thought,  on  which  to  draw  in  reply.  It  lay  in 
the  principle  that  the  tyranny  of  laws  lies  in  their  expressing 
some  domination  which  the  ordinary  good  citizen  recog- 
nizes as  alien ;  but  that  law  is  no  tyranny  or  burden  if  the 
whole  sane  and  well-intentioned  body  of  citizens  recognizes 
it  as  the  expression  of  what  they  agree  in  needing  for  the 
greater  happiness  or  welfare  of  the  greater  number  or  of 
all.  He  even  carried  this  indisputably  true  principle  so 
far  as  to  declare  that  the  higher  the  spirit  of  citizenship, 
or  the  feeling  for  the  commonwealth,  in  any  community, 
the  more  and  the  more  elaborate  were  the  laws  in  which 
it  would  rejoice — spirit  and  law  corresponding  as  soul  to 
body.  Thus,  in  a  healthy  community,  men  rejoice  in 
the  laws  which  they  recognize  as  their  own.  Many  philoso- 
phers and  politicians  could  think  and  express  this  sort  of 
principle.  But  who  except  Holland  could  have  delighted 
the  audience  which  he  had  already  enthralled,  by  the 
formula  which  became  a  maxim  amongst  us,  "  Every  man 
his  own  grandmother "  ?  I  sometimes  was  tempted  to 
wonder  whether  his  brilliant  oratory  and  sparkling  wit  did 
not  so  delight  his  audience  with  a  sort  of  physical  joy  as  to 
conceal  from  them  what  severe  doctrine  and  what  unpalat- 
able conclusions  were  really  being  pressed  upon  them. 
But  certainly  the  body  of  delegates,  who  made  up  the 
Council  and  who  sat  on  the  platform,  and  who  may  have 
been  supposed  to  know  what  was  really  at  stake,  rocked 
with  delight. 

There  is  another  consideration  awakened  in  one's  mind 
by   the   recollection   of   Holland's   brilliant   oratory — that 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SOCIAL  UNION  249 

whereas  what  he  had  to  say,  the  substance  of  his  speaking 
and  preaching,  was  of  a  kind  specially  to  commend  itself 
to  the  intellectual  world,  always  critical  of  theology  and 
largely  external  to  the  Church,  yet  in  fact,  with  some  few 
notable  exceptions,  Holland  never  received  what  I  am 
persuaded  is  his  due  estimate  among  the  intellectuals. 
Judging  with  all  respect,  I  still  cannot  but  think  that  it  was 
stupidity  on  their  part  to  fail  to  see,  behind  what  they 
called  "  fireworks,"  the  depths  of  philosophical  and  historical 
perception  which  were  the  real  characteristics  of  Holland's 
mind.  He  was  a  much  greater  man  than  most  of  those 
whom  the  intellectual  world  agreed  to  admire  because  they 
talked  its  own  language  in  its  own  academic  way.  The 
intellectuals  were  led  astray  by  their  distrust  of  his  brilliancy. 
He  had  the  things  to  say,  and  that  not  only  on  the  social 
question,  but  especially  in  the  region  of  Biblical  criticism, 
which  they  had  most  need  to  listen  to,  but  could  never  take 
seriously  from  him  because  of  what  they  called  his  rhetoric 
or  his  journalism.  But  no  one  could  say  that  it  was  mere 
rhetoric,  or  journaHsm  which  only  played  for  effect.  So 
that  their  failure  to  take  him  seriously  was  to  some  of  us 
most  pathetic. 

But  I  am  diverging  from  the  special  purpose  of  this 
chapter  to  the  topic  of  Holland's  style  or  method  in  conveying 
ideas.  I  must  return  to  seek  some  answer  to  the  question, 
How  far  was  the  movement  represented  by  the  C.S.U.  a 
success  ?  In  one  sense  I  should  claim  that  it  was.  Its 
output  in  the  way  of  writings  of  various  kinds,  and  its 
preaching  and  speaking — especially  through  the  weight  of 
Westcott's  and  Holland's  names — did  contribute  very 
largely  to  the  change  in  the  whole  attitude  of  society  and 
the  Church  towards  the  social  question.  In  particular, 
within  the  Church,  I  think  the  quite  new  tone  in  its  more 
or  less  official  utterances — in  the  "  Reports  "  of  its  Lambeth 
Conference   Committees,    in   its   Convocation   and   Church 


250  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Congress  debates,  in  the  Reports  of  the  Archbishops' 
Committees  on  industrial  questions — has  been  very  largely 
due  to  the  efforts  of  the  C.S.U.  That  is  perhaps  the  main 
thing.  But  two  things  it  has  not  done.  It  has  not  suc- 
ceeded in  stirring-up  what  it  believes  to  be  the  right  spirit 
in  the  mass  of  those  who  preach  in  the  pulpits  or  sit  in 
the  pews  of  the  Anglican  churches.  Whatever  may  be 
said  of  the  central  or  official  church,  the  Church  as  repre- 
sented locally,  whether  in  town  or  country,  whether  clerical 
or  lay,  remains,  I  fear,  a  body  which  as  a  whole  the  social 
reformer  or  the  Labour  man  regards  as  something  which 
is  alien  to  his  ends  and  aims,  and  which  he  finds  irresponsive 
and  dull.  Also,  the  C.S.U.  entirely  failed  to  raise  up  in 
the  ranks  of  the  church  a  sufficient  body  of  Trade  Unionists 
who  were  also  Churchmen  to  make  any  effective  impression 
on  the  Labour  movement  as  a  whole. 

Now  the  C.S.U.  has  passed  into  a  new  phase.  Since 
Holland's  death,  it  has  been  united  with  the  Industrial 
Christian  Fellowship,  which  is  the  well-known  "  Navvy 
Mission  "  converted  to  wider  uses.  The  fellowship  is  now 
an  organization  which  seeks  the  evangelization  of  the 
workers  by  associating  the  Gospel,  as  it  rightly  ought  to 
be  associated,  with  a  whole-hearted  acceptance  of  the 
principles,  really  spiritual  principles,  for  which  the  Labour 
movement  stands,  at  its  best.  And  in  union  with  the 
Fellowship,  the  Christian  Social  Union  will  pursue  its  old 
purpose  of  stirring  up  the  Church  to  the  realization  of  what 
the  teaching  of  its  Master  about  human  brotherhood,  and 
the  equal  spiritual  value  of  every  human  soul,  really  means. 

In  another  direction,  also,  a  fresh  departure  has  been 
made.  Some  of  us,  with  Holland's  entire  assent,  had  long 
been  feeling  that  while  "  denominational  "  societies  must 
do  the  work  of  converting  their  own  bodies,  there  was  needed 
a  fellowship  of  all  the  religious  bodies  which  name  the  name 
of  Christ,  if  anything  like  an  effective  witness  to  the  social 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SOCIAL  UNION  251 

meaning  of  Christianity  was  to  be  borne  in  the  country  as 
a  whole.  And  in  pursuance  of  this  aim  the  Christian 
Social  Crusade  seeks  to  form,  and  affiliate  to  one  another, 
inter-denominational  unions  in  every  town  or  city,  and  in 
country  districts,  whereby  the  sundered  portions  of  the 
Christian  Church  may  learn  to  act  as  one  body  in  the  task 
of  public  social  and  moral  witness,  and  in  the  task  of 
co-operating  with  all  other  local  agencies  in  the  making  of 
a  better  England.  But  these  new  departures  fall  outside 
Holland's  own  activities.  Only  we  feel  sure  that  where  he 
is  in  the  nearer  light  of  God,  we  have  still  the  sympathy  of 
his  great  heart  and  the  help  of  his  passionate  prayers. 

There  is  one  further  point  which  ought  to  have  been 
made  clear  in  the  above  sketch.  Holland  was  theoretical, 
because  he  was  intellectual.  He  could  never  undervalue  the 
importance  of  right  theory  intellectually  held :  but  he  was 
none  the  less  practical.  And  he  was  determined  that  the 
C.S.U.  should  be  practical,  and  himself  took  the  lead  in 
practical  works.  Thus  the  C.S.U.,  aided  by  the  expert 
knowledge  of  Miss  Gertrude  TuckweU  and  Miss  Constance 
Smith,  did  a  good  deal  to  combat  the  evils  of  phosphorus- 
poisoning,  lead-poisoning,  and  unfenced  machinery,  especially 
in  the  potteries,  and  to  popularise  the  use  of  pottery  made 
with  leadless  glaze,  and  Holland  was  foremost  in  all  this. 
He  was  keen  also  in  stirring  us  up  to  support  all  sorts  of  public 
works — re-afforestation  and  the  hke.  He  was  constantly 
besieging  the  Home  Office  and  other  Government  Depart- 
ments to  do  what  ought  to  be  done.  The  Investigation 
Committee  of  the  C.S.U.  was  started  to  serve  such  practical 
purposes.  Again,  Holland  was  the  founder  and  maintainer 
of  Maurice  Hostel  in  a  desolate  region  of  Hoxton.  There  was 
hardly  a  day  of  his  life  which  was  not  in  part  occupied  in 
such  practical  activities.  He  was  a  Hving  embodiment  of 
the  union  of  theory  and  practice, 


PART   III 


LETTERS  OF  FANTASY,   AND  LETTERS  TO  CHILDREN 

He  preferred  talking  to  writing — "  We  must  talk ;  let  us 
talk ;  some  day  we  shall  talk  " — these  were  his  habitual 
phrases  :  but  no  man  ever  put  more  of  himself  in  his  letters. 
He  had  many  styles  :  and  he  was  expert  in  the  use  of  a  style 
of  pure  fantasy.  It  amused  him  to  pursue  small  facts  up 
and  down  the  labyrinth  of  his  imagination,  as  if  he  could 
not  bear  to  see  them  standing  idle.  For  instance,  bad 
weather  in  Oxford — "  Down  here,"  he  writes  to  Heywood 
Sumner,  "it  is  one  slush,  one  mush,  one  muddy  slush  : 
and  everybody  seems  seedy  and  poor  :  and  the  poor  land 
is  drowned  out  of  all  shape  :  and  the  floods  lie  in  sad  ponds 
of  watery  discomfort :  and  nothing  will  ever  be  crisp  and 
dry  again — not  even  Common  Room  sherry."  At  times, 
when  he  could,  he  would  mock  at  his  ill-health  :  "I  have 
the  flu,"  he  writes  to  Heywood  Sumner.  "  Oh,  how  stupid 
a  boiled  owl  must  feel."  And  again,  "  How  wretched  it  is 
not  seeing  you,  or  saying  a  word  to  you.  My  fault :  my 
grievous  fault.  Yet  it  is,  believe  me,  very  difficult  for  my 
old  silly  head  to  arrange  itself  to  write  letters.  It  is  always 
asking  me  to  be  let  off.  It  bolts  to  bed  and  I  can't  wake  it 
up.  It  turns  round  and  round  inside  and  I  can't  stop  it. 
It  gets  topsy-turvy  and  begins  to  sob  and  weep  if  I  stick 
it  straight.  Poor  little  knob  !  I  suppose  it  does  its  level 
best,  but  that  is  not  saying  much."    And  to  Canon  Dorritz, 

235 


256  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

*'  I  am  in  bed,  and  have  got  my  circulation  wrong,  which 
is  what  the  Pilot  suffers  from :  and  the  doctors  declare  I 
must  rest  from  now  till  Easter.  By  that  time  the  Pilot 
will  be  dead,  and  my  circulation  gone  up." 

Writing  to  young  people,  he  mocks  at  his  age :    "  It  is 
such  a  joy  to  me,"  he  says  in  1891  to  his  ward.  Miss  Evelyn 
Holland,  "  to  feel  that  you  do  not  find  me  a  hopelessly  dry 
old  skull,  miles  and  miles  away  from  you."    To  another 
young  friend,  in  1896,  "  It  is  so  absurd  to  be  an  aged,  flop- 
ping,   crop-winged,    moulting,    feathedess    crow — and    yet 
to  be  given  the  boon  of  this  endless  affection."    In  1899, 
he  is  "    a  limp,  sick,  scraggy,  shadowy  ghost  of  a  cat  "  : 
and  in  1904,  "  an  old  dotty  alms-house  crock,  shaking  in 
the  legs,  and  maundering  in  the  head."     Other  flamboyant 
letters  allude  to  things  left  behind,  or  carried  off  by  mistake. 
"  Of  course,"  he  writes  in  1912  to  Mrs.  Talbot,  "  the  over- 
coat was  somebody  else's.     Overcoats  always  are.     I  am 
sending  it  back  in  disgrace  and  tears."    To  Prebendary 
Isaacs,   of  a  surplice  left  behind  :    "  Blessed  man  :    how 
comforting  :    please  bring  it :    I  am  unfrocked."    To  Miss 
Marjorie  Speir,  in  1897,  of  another  surplice  :    "  My  dearest 
child,  you  must  own   up.     Had  you  not  better  confess  at 
once  ?     That  surplice  of  mine.     It  was  too  tempting.     It 
would  make  up  so  beautifully  as  a  dear  little  white  frock  for 
a  ball.     Just  a  bit  cut  down  at  the  neck.     Just  a  tucker 
taken  in  at  the  waist.     Just  a  pucker  in  the  flounce.     One 
red  rose  in  front :   and  a  fringe  let  in  round  the  skirt.     And 
the  thing  was  done.     Can  it   be   undone  ?     That   is  the 
question."    To   Miss   Evelyn   Holland,    of   a   razor-strop : 
"  I  left  my  razor-strop  to  weep  alone,  forgotten  :   if  it  will 
return  to  its  sorrowing  friends  at  i  Amen  Court,  all  will  be 
forgiven.     But  it  is  all  very  well  for  the  strop.     What 
about  half  of  my  heart  which  I  have  ^tft  behind,  lingering 
in   the  dear   affection  of   your  delight.  U  home?     If   you 


LETTERS  OF  FANTASY,  AND  TO  CHILDREN  257 

discover  it  knocking  about,  will  you  send  it  after  me  ?  " 
To  Mrs.  Illingworth,  in  1914 :  "It  hangs,  like  a  black 
ghost,  on  the  silent  peg  in  the  dark  corner,  glum,  morose, 
despairing.  It  is  the  mere  shadow  of  the  form  that  filled 
it.  It  is  the  blind  and  stupid  deposit  which  casts  its  evil 
shadow  on  vanished  life.  It  has  hung  itself,  in  a  fit  of 
morbid  depression,  and  refuses  to  live  any  more.  Enough 
that  it  should  droop  in  lonely  misery,  and  sigh  in  the  moaning 
wind,  remembering  what  has  been,  and  is  no  more.  By 
this  you  will  see  at  once  that  I  have  left  my  cassock  behind 
in  your  cupboard,  and  should  be  glad  to  recapture  it.  It 
was  delicious,  Longworth,  after  all,  in  spite  of  Zanzibar  and 
Kikuyus.     I  was  so  glad." 

His  letters  to  children  are  full  of  interest.  Three 
things  in  the  world,  he  said  to  a  friend,  are  absolutely  per- 
fect :  children,  flowers,  and  stars.  "  Children  are  our 
daylight,"  he  wrote  in  1890  :  "  we  do  not  get  wiser,  but 
stupider.  Do  not  let  us  for  a  moment  suppose  that  the 
dimness  of  our  later  visions  is  sure  to  be  more  real  and 
true  because  they  are  later.  Children  are  nearer  what 
we  are  made  to  be,  than  we  are  :  and  their  eyes  are  more 
open.  Our  Lord  said  so."  His  love  of  them  began  at  the 
beginning,  with  the  mystery  of  their  birth.  "  Such  a  gift," 
he  writes  to  a  friend  in  1881,  "  exceeding  all  that  seems 
possible  :  so  remote,  in  its  actual  entirety,  from  anything 
we  can  account  for.  Out  of  the  blind  darkness,  out  of  the 
deep  abyss,  it  comes,  the  strange  new  thing,  so  miraculous 
a  result  of  what  seems  so  inadequate  :  the  blind  powers 
are  turned  into  such  surprising  instruments  which  work 
out  a  wonder  utterly  beyond  expectation."  To  another 
friend,  in  1882,  "  A  living  being,  quite  new,  quite  itself, 
quite  different  from  any  other  being.  It  seems  to  me 
altogether  incredible :  and  if  I  were  not  compelled  to 
acknowledge  that  there  is  a  baby  that  was  not  there  before, 

s 


258  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

nothing  would  induce  me  to  believe  it.  It  seems  to  me  at 
least  as  hard  to  believe  as  a  life  after  death  :  a  good  deal 
harder,  I  really  think." 

He  was  godfather  to  a  legion  of  boys  and  girls  :  and, 
even  when  they  were  grown  up,  he  still  poured  out  his  love 
to  many  young  ladies,  in  letters  as  irresponsible  and  elusive 
as  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream. 


To  Miss  Margaret  Wilkinson 

There  was  a  dear  old  red  pillar-box  I  saw  a  fortnight 
ago.  And  I  want  so  very  much  to-day  to  drop  in  at  its 
mouth  a  quiet  and  fond  message  to  a  little  white  soul  that 
lives  inside  it — such  a  queer,  dear  little  soul  in  a  blue 
smock  and  a  sun-bonnet,  and  a  look  of  the  Nile  in  its  eyes, 
and  the  glow  of  an  early  Umbrian  sunset  on  its  cheeks,  and 
two  stout  little  black  pins  on  which  it  runs  about.  It  has 
crept  inside  this  big  red  pillar-box  :  but  I  still  believe  that 
if  only  I  can  slip  this  letter  in  at  the  top,  it  will  rattle  down 
and  down  within,  until  it  reaches  that  quaint  white  soul  in 
its  hiding-place  below  :  and  there  it  will  be  sitting,  blue 
smock,  sun-bonnet  and  all :  and  it  will  be  just  as  nice  and 
dear  as  ever.  So  off  it  shall  go  on  the  chance.  Dear  old 
red  pillar-box  :  do  please  see  if  you  can't  find  this  funny 
soul ;  and  give  her  my  love  ;  and  bid  her  be  good  and  sweet 
and  happy,  and  tell  her  I  shall  remember  her  on  Easter 
morning  and  all  the  good  days,  and  shall  pray  for  aU  good 
things  to  come  to  her.  From  her  fond  and  foolish  old  U.D, 
My  love  to  everybody. 

To  Miss  May  Talbot 

I.  I  feel  as  if  "  Canon  Holland  "  was  hideously  stiff. 
What  can  be  done  ?  If  we  are  going  to  be  real  live  loving 
friends,  we  must  find  some  way  out  of  "  Canon  Holland." 
The  only  name  I  can  think  of  at  this  minute  is  "  Bruncle  " 
—  that  seems  to  me  halfway  between  a  brother  and  an 
uncle  :  would  not  that  be  about  what  I  might  be  called  ? 
It  combines  dignity  with  affection  :  mystery  with  simplicity  : 
age  with  youth.  Anyhow,  not  "  Canon  Holland."  It 
seems  to  put  me  miles  off  in  the  moon,  with  a  wig  and  a 


LETTERS   OF  FANTASY,   AND  TO   CHILDREN     259 

cotton  umbrella.  But  we  want  to  be  quite  close  down  to 
each  other,  so  that  we  can  hear  each  other  whisper.  You 
must  think  it  over. 

2.  Such  slush  !  such  wind  !  All  brown,  wet,  mud  in 
the  sky.  I  don't  know  which  is  dirty-browniest,  the  sky 
or  the  streets.  Only  warm  hearts  can  live  through  such 
ugly  days  :  and  we  must  be  very  fond  indeed  of  one  another, 
the  worse  the  weather  is.  I  am  so  glad  you  are  learning 
Chopin.  Nobody  has  the  soul  of  a  piano  in  him  like 
Chopin.  He  feels,  and  thinks,  and  talks,  just  as  a  piano 
would  if  it  were  alive.  And  then  the  playing  of  him  must 
be  so  delicious.  He  is  plaintive,  is  he  not  ?  Something 
tender,  and  half  crying,  and  pitiful,  as  if  his  heart-strings 
were  very  delicate  and  high-strung.  It  is  the  sort  of  sadness 
which  you  hear  in  some  birds'  notes,  and  in  winds  blowing 
round  crannied  corners,  when  they  pipe  like  lost  children. 

3.  My  heart  was  perpetually  taking  up  its  pen  inside 
me,  and  dipping  it  in  a  little  red  blood  of  affection,  and 
scribbling  away  over  sheets  and  sheets  ot  thin,  silky  papers 
of  memory.  Only  it  never  could  get  out,  when  it  had  done, 
and  run  to  a  pillar  post,  and  stick  it  in,  and  bolt  back  again 
to  its  place.  Poor  old  heart  !  it  wept  in  its  prison,  and 
washed  out  all  the  writing  with  its  tears.  And  now  that  it 
can  get  to  the  post,  it  begs  to  say  that  it  cannot  write  half 
it  wanted  to  say.     So  you  will  never  know. 

To  Miss  Winnie  Talbot 

I.  To  her,  aged  five. — I  passed  Oxford  yesterday,  and 
all  the  towers  and  spires  came  rushing  down  to  the  station, 
with  all  their  bells  jostling  about  and  crying  "  How's  Winny  ? 
Here  is  a  man  v/ho  has  seen  Winny  !  Oh  Winny,  Winny," 
And  old  Tom  came  puffing  along  rather  late,  and  growled 
out,  very  deep,  "  How's  Winny  ?  "  and  the  little  Keble 
dinner-beU  ran  up  and  whispered  in  my  ear,  "  Does  she 
get  enough  jam  ?  "  and  then  they  all  went  on  singing 
nothing  but  "  Winny,  Winny,  Winny  " — 

"  We  miss  little  Win, 
As  she  ran  out  and  in, 
On  each  black  little  pin  ! 
We  never,  now,  grin, 
And  to  smile  is  a  sin, 
Since  we  lost  little  Win  ! 


26o  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

We  are  sick,  we  are  thin, 

We  are  shrunk  to  the  skin. 

We  scarcely  can  tin — 

— kle  our  clappers  :  we  sin — 

— k  down,  and  sit  in  a  rin — 

— g,  with  our  heads  on  our  chin, 

And  we  sigh,  as  we  sin — 

— g,  '  Oh,  when  will  they  brin — 

— g  our  Win 

Back  agin  ?  '  " 

I  can't  think  how  I  should  have  got  away  from  them, 
as  they  all  clung  about  my  neck,  crying  "  Winny,  Winny, 
Winny,"  and  poor  old  St.  Mary's  spire  quite  broke  down, 
and  Magdalen  tower  sobbed  aloud — but  the  train  rushed  on, 
and  tore  me  away,  poor  St.  Philip's  holding  on  to  me  to  the 
last  minute  :  and  still  the  little  voices  kept  following  me, 
saying  "  Winny,  Winny."  You  must  go  round  to  each  of 
them  when  you  get  back,  and  give  them  a  kiss  ;  they  will 
be  so  pleased.     Goodbye,  little  gossamer  thing. 

2.  Tyn-y-bryn,  Bettws-y-Coed. — It  is  so  lovely,  here  :  I 
think  it  the  most  beautiful  spot  in  the  world  ;  it  is  so  furry 
like  your  head  once  was  in  the  old  polo-pony  days — brown 
and  croppy  and  nestly  and  snug,  with  warm  human  kindli- 
ness about  it,  and  soft  friendly  colours,  that  feed  you  with 
peace — not  savage  and  gawky  and  green  and  cold  and 
spiky  and  mangled,  like  those  Alps  which  some  people 
like  so  much.  And,  then,  it  is  crowded  with  tender  memories 
of  dear  old  days  when  I  was  a  really  nice  little  boy  ;  and 
that  must  be  a  tremendous  time  ago,  you  will  say.  And 
voices  of  old  friends  talk  and  whisper  in  the  waters  to  me, 
where  we  played  and  swam  and  laughed  when  we  were 
young.  Oh  dear !  Anyhow,  you  are  young,  still,  my 
Winny.  That  is  a  comfort.  It  does  you  immense 
credit. 

3.  It  is  a  great  relief  to  us  all  to  learn  that  the  unhappy 
business  was  not  entirely  made  in  Germany,  but  much  of 
it  is  of  good  British  origin,  wholesome  and  patriotic,  of 
some  fine  old  Yorkshire  blend,  straight  perhaps  from  dear 
old  Brig-gate.  It  would  have  been  awful  if  our  very 
measles  were  not  our  own,  but  were  supplied  by  the  horrible 
German  competitor  for  our  custom.  We  should  have  had 
to  get  up  a  Guild  of  members  sworn  to  have  only  English 


LETTERS  OF  FANTASY,  AND  TO  CHILDREN  261 

measles,  with  Winny  as  Lady  Dame-Superior  of  the  Rose- 
Pink  Habitation.  Think  of  this.  The  badge  would  be  a 
rash  rouge  rampant,  crowned  by  British  pimple  emergent 
floriated  :  supporters,  Mrs.  'Uty  on  either  side  with  bottles 
proper  :  below,  finely  modelled  in  bronze,  very  stout  German 
Lady  prostrate  under  attack  of  her  native  measles,  returned 
under  compulsion  from  England.  It  would  have  a  great 
effect  on  Home  Industries. 

4.  Gayton  Lodge,  Wimbledon. — How  is  the  "  beastly  " 
musical  exam  ?  Have  you  been  the  first,  the  solitary 
plough  ?  So  solemn.  To  think  that  since  the  creation  of 
the  world,  no  soul  had  ever  ventured  to  be  ploughed  at 
that  exam  !  until  Lavinia  Talbot  dared  the  heroic  deed. 
Alone  she  did  it.  Alone  she  stood,  testing  the  new  experi- 
ence, which  no  human  flesh  and  blood  had  ever  known  before. 
The  first  plough — is  it  so  ?  I  shall  hear  to-morrow,  when 
I  hope  to  turn  in,  steaming  with  perspiration,  after  preaching 
my  volunteers  off  their  legs,  and  seeing  my  entire  congre- 
gation carried  off  in  ambulance-vans.  They  fall  and 
dwindle  as  I  speak  :  at  the  close,  I  and  the  drums  remain  : 
the  drums  rumble  with  hollow  echoes  to  my  lonely  cries. 

To  Miss  Gladys  White 

1.  My  Gladys — no,  Gwladys — that  is  much  jollier. 
It  is  like  a  gurgle  of  water  out  of  a  bottle  with  a  narrow 
neck.  It  is  like  the  dying  sigh  of  a  lamp  going  out.  It 
is  like  a  gargle  that  has  failed  to  come  off  and  has  ended 
in  a  splutter.  It  is  full  of  all  happy  noises  as  of  birds 
gloating  with  joy  over  early  worms ;  and  of  bubbles 
that  burst ;  and  of  odd  watery  gulps  where  a  rat  has 
dived.  .  .  . 

2.  High  House,  Winchester. — Here  we  live  on  the  top 
of  a  sheer  hill,  looking  down  into  the  very  chimneys  of  the 
town.  We  could  pea-shoot  the  Dean  and  Canons.  It  is 
a  most  lovely  view  :  with  the  Cathedral  like  a  queer  old 
sea-beast  that  has  crawled  on  shore  to  dry  itself  in  the 
sun,  and  then  stuck,  and  could  never  get  back.  It  is 
crammed  to  the  nose  with  history  and  bones  :  and  is  thinking 
all  the  time  that  it  might  have  been  the  capital  of  England, 
and  then  it  would  have  been  St.  Paul's,  only  it  isn't. 

3.  I  was  just  wondering  into  what  silent  gulf  you  had 
sunk  away,   when  your  letter  broke  in,   and  the  silence 


262  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

laughed  aloud.  There  you  were,  speaking  with  the  old 
tones  and  fairly  happy  out  in  the  blessed  country,  with  the 
skies  and  birds  and  grass  and  flowers,  and  one  delicious 
little  maid.  Is  it  not  lovely  ?  Can  you  stand  the  drunken 
joy  of  the  larks  ?  And  we  have  nightingales  shouting  for 
sheer  gladness,  with  liquid  bubblings  of  rapture.  And  all 
the  hedges  are  joining  in  with  their  sweet  greenery  ;  and 
one  and  all  agree  that  there  really  is  no  time  like  the  Spring. 
We  will  meet  somewhere  in  the  wilderness.  I  go  back 
on  Monday  :  when  do  you  ?  But  "  things  "  will  be  beastly, 
and  will  step  in.  They  always  do.  Why  should  there  be 
"  things  "  ?  Who  wants  them  ?  What  are  they  ?  They 
think  themselves  so  vastly  important.  And,  after  all,  they 
are  only  "  things." 

4.  Yes,  it  is  years  :  we  certainly  must  manage  these 
things  better  :  it  was  the  Flood,  when  last  we  met.  And 
what  a  Flood  that  was  !  How  well  I  remember  the  last 
look  of  the  elephant's  tail,  as  he  turned-in  for  the  night ! 
Our  boatmen  on  the  Nile  used  to  sing  a  song  full  of  taunts 
at  a  daughter  of  Noah's,  whose  name  is  never  mentioned 
in  our  record,  who  refused  to  get  in,  and  was  left  behind 
on  the  retreating  shore,  while  the  crew  jeered  at  her  with 
an  "  I  told  you  so."  Can  you  have  been  that  unfortunate 
girl  ?  No,  no :  get  in  with  us :  please  do.  .  .  .  Dear 
child,  lay  hold  of  the  secret  of  life,  and  win  its  joy,  and 
don't  let  London  cloud  you  down.  We  don't  meet, 
but  I  remember  you  each  day,  and  pray  for  your 
gladness. 

5.  I  quite  remember  the  man  you  lately  asked  me 
about :  a  poor  fellow  of  little  account,  but,  as  I  always 
said,  with  some  good  at  bottom,  though  no  one  would 
believe  me.  He  called  himself  Canon  of  St.  Paul's  :  and 
often  professed  to  have  some  affection  for  you.  But,  of 
course,  nobody  could  trust  a  word  he  said.  He  disappeared 
about  a  fortnight  ago  ;  and,  with  all  these  funerals  about, 
may  have  got  buried  himself.  But  I  had  some  faint  news 
of  him  yesterday  ;  he  was  showing  signs  of  re-emerging  : 
he  may  yet  turn  up,  and  be  himself  again.  And,  if  he 
does,  I  am  sure  you  will  find  that  he  still  talks  of  you,  and 
has  the  same  heart  that  he  always  bore.  If  so,  would  you 
consent  to  see  him  again  ?  Say  next  Friday  at  tea  ?  Why 
not  ?  I  would  get  him  to  meet  you.  And  all  might  yet 
be  well. 


LETTERS  OF  FANTASY,  AND  TO  CHILDREN  263 

To  Miss  Marjorie  Speir 

The  Lodge,  Selwyn  College,  Cambridge.  Oct.  1892. — ^This 
is  a  good  place.  It  tries  to  copy  Oxford  as  weU  as  it  can, 
poor  dear.  And  some  bits  are  really  not  bad.  But  oh, 
the  river  !  with  slummy  slime  mixed  up  with  slimy  slum, 
and  a  dim  sense  of  dead  cats,  and  greasy  spots  of  shining 
glutinous  matter  on  it,  and  smeUs  abounding,  and  bewildered 
flies,  and  seedy  straws,  aU  floating  in  it.  An  unhappy 
ditch.  But  up  above  the  town  it  is  pretty,  with  a  sweetish 
bathing-place  where  we  plunge,  and  cows,  and  willows, 
and  fish,  and  sun.  We  have  eight  children  in  the  house : 
so  I  cheer  up. 

To  Miss  Cecily  Ady 

[He  is  with  her  people,  at  Charing  in  Kent.)  To  think 
that  I  should  be  sitting  here  for  a  whole  delightful  week, 
waiting  for  you  to  turn  up  under  the  blossoming  cherry-tree, 
and  yet  you  never  come.  All  the  birds  are  shouting  for  you  : 
and  the  larks  twitter  "  Cecily  !  Cecily  !  "  in  the  sky,  until 
they  drop  with  despair  :  and  the  nightingales  pipe  long 
low  notes  of  astonishment :  and  even  the  old  duck  who  has 
waddled  up  from  the  Colonel's  pond,  and  is  sitting,  in  a 
daze,  on  her  eggs  in  your  garden  under  the  warm  brick 
wall,  now  and  again  winks  one  of  her  foolish  eyes  at  me,  to 
show  that  she  enjoys  the  fun  of  my  bewilderment. 

In  1902,  he  was  staying  at  Chollerton,  Northumberland, 
where  his  friend  Dr.  Hornby,  Bishop  of  Nassau,  was  rector. 
One  of  the  Sunday  school  children,  Annie  Coxon,  had 
knitted  him  a  purple  muffler,  or  as  she  called  it,  a  moofler  : 
he  was  delighted  :  he  thanked  her,  and  wore  it  in  triumph, 
and  later  wrote  to  her  from  London.  "  She  could  not 
read  it,"  says  Bishop  Hornby,  "  her  mother  could  not  read 
it,  her  father  could  not  read  it,  the  schoolmaster  could  not 
read  it :  at  last  it  came  to  me."  *  At  the  children's  harvest- 
festival,  he  preached  to  them  :    "  He  said  to  me,  as  he 

*  Certainly,  his  handwriting  is  hard  to  read  at  first  sight :  but,  as 
one  goes  on  reading  his  letters,  it  becomes  much  clearer :  only,  in  the 
last  few  years,  it  becomes  harder  to  make  out.     There  is  a  letter,  in  1897, 


264  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

went  to  the  pulpit,  '  What  shall  I  preach  about  ?  '     I  said. 
Don't  preach  :    tell  them  what  London  is  like/    And  he 
did." 

To  Miss  Annie  Coxon 

Dear  Annie  Coxon,  I've  been  thinking  what  I  should 
wear  at  the  King's  Coronation.  Why !  I'll  wear  my 
purple  miiffler.  And  what  if  the  king  meets  me  at  the  foot 
of  the  St.  Paul's  stairs,  and  says,  ''  Why,  Canon  Holland, 
where  did  you  get  that  purple  miiffler  ?  "  And  I  shall  go 
on  my  bended  knee  and  say,  "  It  was  made  by  Miss  Annie 
Coxon  of  Barraford  by  Chollerton  "  !  And  what  if  a  foot- 
man in  scarlet  and  gold  lands  up  at  Chollerton  station  and 
cries,  "  Where  lives  Miss  Annie  Coxon  ?  for  the  king  cannot 
sleep  at  nights  until  he  gets  a  purple  miiffler  like  Canon 
Scott  Holland's  "  ! 

Among  the  last  of  his  letters,  is  one  to  Clifford  Cock, 
a  godson,  aged  twelve  :  Dec.  26,  1917  :  "  Dear  Cliffo,  How 
good  and  sweet  of  you  to  write  to  me.  I  am  so  glad  to 
hear  of  you.  I  wish  I  could  see  you.  I  am  sending  you  a 
little  book  about  Francis  :  because  though  he  was  a  Saint, 
he  had  such  heaps  of  fun  about  him.  And  he,  and  all  his 
Brothers,  loved  laughing  :  and  were  always  cracking  jokes. 
He  showed  how  happy  a  thing  it  is  to  love  and  serve  God. 
Far  the  happiest  thing  in  the  world.  I  am  still  ill :  but 
hope  to  get  better.  Give  my  love  to  your  dear  father  and 
mother  :  and  to  the  new  bicycle." 

to  Miss  Evelyn  Holland  :  "  This  is  written  with  your  pen.  What  more 
can  I  say  ?  Do  you  not  recognise  the  rounded  forms,  the  luminous  out- 
lines, which  it  has  given  to  my  hand  ?  How  spacious  its  sweep :  how 
grandiose  its  measured  movement  !  And  it  is  all  with  the  pen.  It  is 
beautifully  poised  for  the  rhythmic  swing  with  which  the  large  Roman 
letters  sail  out  on  their  appointed  task.  You  have  endued  me  with  a 
new  reputation.  You  have  saved  countless  '  swears  '  in  my  correspondents. 
Tempers  all  over  England  are  sweet  and  calm,  because  you  have  given  me 
a  pen  which  can  almost  make  me  legible." 


II 

LETTERS   TO   A   YOUNG   COUSIN 

This  cousin's  home  in  Scotland  was  a  place  where  he 
delighted  to  stay.  The  letters  begin  just  before  her  coming 
out,  and  cover  a  period  of  about  fourteen  years.  She 
remembers  the  after-tea  readings,  started  by  him  when 
she  was  sixteen  : — 

I  read  aloud  to  him  whatever  book  he  happened  to  have 
on  hand  :  among  them  were  Tennyson,  Browning,  Pater, 
"  lonica,"  Kipling,  Maeterlinck,  and  Mr.  Balfour's  Essays 
and  Addresses.  "  lonica  "  led  him  to  talk  of  his  beloved 
Eton.  There  seemed  nothing  he  did  not  know,  down  to 
the  latest  play.  Whatever  was  going  on,  he  entered  into 
it  whole-heartedly.  Cricket  he  loved,  but  golf  he  never 
cared  for  ;  he  hit  out  wildly  when  he  tried  to  swing  ;  and 
said  he  "  ploughed  the  fields  and  scattered,"  as  he  replaced 
the  divots  of  turf.  He  used  to  shout  with  excitement  over 
fives  on  the  billiard  table.  Once,  in  a  hurriedly  got-up 
version  of  the  Rose  and  the  Ring,  which  my  brothers  and 
I  acted  to  the  household,  he  appeared  as  Hedzoff,  in  a 
Deputy-Lieutenant's  uniform  ;  and  in  the  intervals  read 
aloud  the  Bab  Ballads.  He  loved  riding ;  but  did  not 
shine  on  horseback.  After  his  visits,  there  was  a  very 
fiat  feeling  :  "  Scott  is  gone.  Woe,  woe,"  is  one  entry  in  a 
diary. 

Mr.  Gladstone,  whom  I  was  brought  up  to  consider 
the  incarnation  of  evil  to  the  country  and  the  Empire, 
was  his  ideal ;  and  he  used  to  chaff  me  over  this,  when  he 
wrote  from  Hawarden  :  and  once  he  sent  me  a  nonsense 
letter,  crammed  with  Irish  phrases,  and  purporting  to  come 

265 


266  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

from  Mr.  Dillon,  whom  he  represented  as  having  converted 
me  to  Home  Rule  at  a  dinner  where  I  had  sat  next  to  him. 
Lord  Haldane  usually  came  to  meet  Scott  at  our  house. 
Another  friend  of  his  and  mine  was  Mr.  Asquith  ;  whom 
I  remember  appearing  unexpectedly  on  Sunday  in  church 
and  carrying  us  off  in  his  motor  to  the  house  where  he  was 
staying.  On  Sunday  evenings,  Scott  usually  preached  in 
the  chapel  in  our  house. 

He  had  times  of  depression  :  but  it  is  his  high  spirits, 
and  sparkling  wit  and  humour,  and  above  all  his  extra- 
ordinary power  of  sympathy  and  insight,  that  are  most 
deeply  graven  on  my  memory. 

1.  I  cannot  but  wonder  how  it  was  that  a  young,  bright 
creature  like  you  should  have  shown  so  much  affection  and 
tenderness  to  an  ugly  battered  old  parson  like  me.  And 
I  hope  you  will  let  it  continue  as  you  leave  the  last  of  the 
sheltered  years  behind  you,  and  begin,  next  year,  to  take 
your  plunge  into  the  big  life,  outside,  where  so  many 
difficulties  may  get  so  quickly  about  you,  and  it  is  so  hard 
to  find  one's  way,  and  things  get  anxious.  Do  ask  me 
anything  whenever  you  wish  it :  and  believe  always  that 
my  love  will  be  at  your  service,  to  do  anything  it  can  to 
clear  your  way,  and  save  you  trouble,  and  help  you  to 
discern  between  good  and  evil  in  the  strange  mixed  world 
of  men,  which  you  will  be  touching  and  handling.  It  is 
sometimes  so  difficult  to  know  what  to  trust,  and  what  to 
distrust,  in  a  life  which  is  apparently  bent  on  pleasing  you, 
and  attracting  you,  and  showing  you  its  very  best  face. 

2.  Haw ar den. — Just  now,  as  you  first  break  out  of  the 
old  lines,  I  cannot  but  watch,  with  affectionate  interest,  to 
see  how  you  take  the  harbour-bar,  and  how  the  taste  of 
the  free  salt  winds  strikes  you,  and  how  you  breast  the 
dancing  waves.  It  is  the  loveliest  sight  in  the  world,  I 
think,  to  see  a  ship,  with  its  flag  flying,  and  sails  set,  and 
all  its  paint  gleaming,  dragged  by  ropes  up  between  two  old, 
brown  piers,  until  it  plunges  at  the  first  touch  of  the  open 
sea,  and  the  ropes  fall  off,  and  it  dips  its  jib  in  the  kicking 
waters,  and  scatters  the  foam,  and  then  feels  the  wind  in 
its  sails,  and  shapes  its  course  right  away,  for  where  ?  A 
few  old,  broken  tars  look  after  it,  with  spy-glasses,  from  the 
old  pier  head  :  and  the  faithful  old  piers  follow  it  far  with 
their  lighthouse  lights  :    but   it  is  gone  right  away — and 


LETTERS  TO  A  YOUNG  COUSIN  267 

the  old  tars  shut  up  their  glasses,  and  feel  a  bit  sad,  and  go 
home  to  bed. 

And  I  feel  rather  like  an  old  tar — with  my  spy-glass 
still  up — and  I  can  follow  her  a  little,  before  the  big  seas 
receive  her  out  of  sight  :  and  very  beautifully  she  goes  : 
and  it  is  delightful  to  watch  her  :  only  she  must  always  be 
getting  a  little  further  off. 

3.  Will  you  let  me  tell  you,  at  your  start  in  coming- 
out,  something  about  men,  which  is  very  apt  to  lie  dark, 
and  be  hidden  by  their  talk  and  ways  ?  A  girl  is  sure  to 
see  that  men  are  attracted  by  bright  spirits,  and  fun,  and 
chaff.  That  is  clear  enough  :  and,  of  course,  she  will  also 
see  how  strongly  they  are  drawn  by  beauty.  But  I  believe 
that  deeper  even  than  their  admiration  of  beauty,  lies 
their  belief  in  a  girl's  goodness  :  and  it  is  this  which  is  so 
often  kept  secret.  Yet  every  man  feels  it.  Not  the 
"  parsons  "  only,  but,  often,  quite  the  other  sort  !  Half 
a  man's  love  of  beauty  has  this  for  its  secret.  To  him,  a 
girl's  beaut}^  always  seems  to  mean  her  goodness. 

A  man  needs  the  help  of  a  girl  to  keep  up  his  standard 
of  right  and  wrong.  He  feels  somehow  that  he  is  doing 
very  little  good  to  anybody  :  that  he  thinks  of  nobody 
much  but  himself  :  that  school  and  college  have  knocked 
all  sentiment  about  "  ideals  "  out  of  his  head  :  that  he 
has  seen,  and  heard,  and  said,  many  bad  and  vile  things  : 
and  that  he  does  not  know  much  about  religion  and  "  all 
that  sort  of  thing,  you  know."  But  he  wants  to  beheve 
in  goodness  :  he  wants  some  one  to  back  him  up,  to  help 
him  to  stick  to  high  and  pure  things. 

As  I  long  to  say  this  to  every  girl  I  know,  so  I  doubly 
long  to  say  it  to  you,  for  whose  happiness  I  care  so 
much. 

4.  Holywell,  Oxford. — It  would  be  sweet  to  be  off  to 
your  blessed  home,  and  to  all  your  kindness,  and  to  hear 
you  read  to  me,  and  to  gather  from  you  the  news  of  your 
flight  into  our  poor,  flat  wet  land  :  and  to  learn  how  it 
was  that  the  young  English  boys  had  the  grace  given  them 
to  win  this  immortal  victory  and  to  persuade  you  that, 
even  south  of  the  Tweed,  there  were  lads  worth  knowing. 
This  is  news  indeed  :  I  waved  my  hat  three  times  round 
my  head.  I  should  have  loved  to  have  just  looked  in, 
and  seen  you  all  sailing  about,  and  spinning,  and  smiling, 
and  happy.     Are  you  coming  to  London  ?     Shall  we  see 


268  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

you  ?     The  Queen  is  on  the  look-out,  and  ought  not  to  be 
disappomted. 

5.  Tyn-y-Bryn. — How  I  wish  I  could  come.  But  it 
may  not  be.  I  am  tied  by  both  hind  legs  :  and  back  I 
must  go  to  my  funny  old  post,  to  stare  again  at  the  old 
white  wall  in  front  of  the  windows,  and  to  wonder  how 
the  starving  poor  are  ever  to  be  fed  !  How  are  you  ?  and 
what  were  your  general  reflections  on  a  London  season  ? 
and  what  have  you  been  reading,  or  thinking  ?  Oh  dear. 
I  should  like  a  talk. 

6.  I  am  not  making  too  much  of  it :  I  know  how 
thoroughly  you  enjoy  the  bright  things  that  come  :  yet 
you  had  a  touch  of  anxiety  as  you  pondered,  or  looked  ahead, 
as  if  you  were  not  sure  of  yourself :  or  of  what  you  were 
to  do.  Now,  there  is  no  clever  dodge  by  which  to  get 
round  such  anxieties.  They  cannot  be  dismissed  by  a 
dose  of  wise  advice.  It  is  only  that,  being  very  fond  of 
you,  I  cannot  help  wishing  to  lighten  things  a  little. 

Perhaps,  it  might  help  to  remember  that  life  is  always 
a  long  pause  in  which  we  are  preparing  for  some  crisis  or 
other  :  and  these  pause-times  only  get  a  meaning  from  the 
crisis  when  it  comes.  In  themselves,  they  look  meaningless 
and  useless  :  but  when  the  crisis  or  change  arrives,  we  can 
judge  of  the  pause,  whether  it  was  put  to  profit,  or  no. 
A  girl  cannot  tell  whether  the  crisis  that  will  settle  things 
into  a  definite  line,  will  be  marriage,  or  not.  Yet  that 
would  make  all  the  difference  in  determining  her  aim. 

What  can  she  do  ?  She  must  be  content  to  be  vague, 
and  in  suspense  :  it  is  impossible  for  her  to  put  any  strong, 
definite  purpose  into  her  life,  as  yet  :  all  she  can  do  is  to 
make  the  pause-time  such  that,  looking  back  upon  it,  when 
the  crisis  of  decision  comes,  she  may  be  able  to  say  "  It  was 
not  wasted  :  that  pause  prepared  me,  enriched  me,  endowed 
me  for  what  I  now  am  :  I  am  better  able  to  be  what  I 
am  required  to  be,  because  I  had  that  interval  of  suspense." 
And  the  thing  for  you  to  do,  now,  is  just  to  save  yourself 
from  ever  having  to  say  hereafter,  "  Oh  dear  !  what  a  fool 
I  was  to  let  those  days  slide  away  unused."  Here  is  a  sermon 
for  you,  dear  !  Forgive  me.  I  will  never  do  it  again — 
unless  you  ask  me. 

7.  I  have  just  got  a  letter  from  Haldane,  asking  me  to 
one  of  his  little  dinners,  to  meet  John  Morley,  Sidney  Webb 
the  Socialist,  etc.     Haldane  himself  is  to  lecture  to  us  in 


LETTERS  TO  A  YOUNG  COUSIN  269 

the  Chapter  House  next  Tuesday  on  "  Industrial  Legisla- 
tion."    I  am  looking  forward  keenly. 

And  the  wedding  !  The  Horse  Guards  :  the  clanking 
swords  :  the  jingling  spurs  :  it  was  splendid  !  But  how 
dully  the  gay  world  dresses.  No  colours  !  You  would 
have  thought  it  a  funeral,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  brides- 
maids. The  bridegroom  very  young  :  the  bride  shimmering 
gracefully  :  the  service  beautiful.  So  the  great  deed  was 
done.  It  is  always  impressive.  The  courage  of  the  girl 
always  overwhelms  me.  Such  a  plunge,  into  such  unknown 
seas  :  such  adventures  before  her,  such  risks,  such  anxieties, 
such  heights  and  depths.  And  with  no  available  retreat. 
Most  wonderful ;  and  most  inspiring — inspiring  to  recognise 
how  true  it  is  that  life  is,  for  all  its  apparent  hum-drumness, 
in  reality  an  heroic  venture. 

So  moralises  the  aged  bachelor,  gazing  out  of  his  ivy- 
bush,  with  blinking  eyes,  at  these  bright  brides  that  pass 
along  the  splendid  Way  of  Honour.  You  mustn't  jeer  at 
the  poor  old  boy  for  taking  it  so  solemnly. 

And  did  your  mother  actually  dream  that  I  could  offer 
myself  to  be  torn  to  bits  by  those  raging  lions  of  Unionism  ? 
It  is  most  kind  of  her  :  but  I  should  never  have  dared  to 
creep  out  from  under  my  bed. 

8.  Of  course,  anyone  who,  like  Lord  Hartington,  refuses 
office,  offers  an  honourable  proof  of  his  sincerity  which 
cannot  be  mistaken.  But  not  everyone,  who  is  ready  to 
take  office,  is  therefore  any  less  honourable.  Only,  he 
cannot  prove  it  so  visibly ;  he  must  be  judged  on  his 
general  character.  And  what  I  mean  about  Mr.  Gladstone 
is  that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  know  him,  and  to  doubt 
his  moral  worth,  his  moral  dignity.  There  is  no  one  who  so 
obviously  appeals  to,  and  works  by,  his  conscience.  He 
is  possessed  with  the  earnest  conviction  that  he  must  answer 
for  every  act  before  God. 

But  his  convictions  are  passionately  strong  :  far  stronger 
than  Lord  Hartington's.  He  is  compelled  to  assert  them  ; 
he  cannot  but  believe  himself  responsible  for  asserting  them. 
He  cannot  hold  them  without  desiring  to  carry  them  out 
into  action.  Hence  what  you  call  "  his  love  of  power." 
No  one  could  possibly  be  more  free  from  the  meaner  ambi- 
tions of  place,  etc.  He  is  utterly  unworldly.  But  he  is 
prepared  to  act  on  his  convictions  :  and  he  ardently  seeks 
opportunities  to  do  so.     This  is  where  he  so  differs  from 


270  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

the  shy,  bored,  honest  indifference  of  your  friend.  In  this 
ardour  of  beUef  in  his  own  convictions,  Mr.  Gladstone  is 
liable  to  be  dreadfully  mistaken.  He  thinks  he  is  right ; 
he  thinks  others  wrong  :  and  this,  with  passionate  reality  : 
but  this  is  not  the  desire  for  place,  or  a  readiness  to  swallow 
principles  for  power.  As  to  the  Newcastle  programme, 
there  is  nothing  that  does  not  accord  with  his  con- 
victions there :  though  he  does  not  care  for  some  of 
the  points  half  so  much  as  some  of  his  followers  do.  So 
there  ! 

9.  {A  friend  proved  false.)  I  long  to  think  that  the 
sorrow  has  opened,  and  not  shut,  the  doors  and  windows 
of  the  heart.  This  is  the  crisis  of  such  a  blow.  It  must 
do  one  thing,  or  the  other.  You  must  emerge  from  out  of 
its  shadows  a  bit  softer,  or  a  bit  harder,  than  before  it. 
Either  you  look  out  on  the  world  with  the  eyes  of  a  woman 
who  has  become  kinder,  tenderer,  more  unselfish,  more 
forgiving,  because  of  the  touch  of  suffering  that  has  made 
the  whole  world  kin  :  or  you  face  it  with  the  look  of  a  woman 
who  has  recoiled  into  a'  more  self-centred  isolation,  and  has 
felt  the  touch  of  distrust,  and  of  sharpness,  and  of  intoler- 
ance, like  a  blight,  like  a  frost.  Dearest  child,  these  are 
harsh  words  :  only,  I  put  them  strongly  because  it  would 
be  so  terrible  to  me  if  anything  were  to  freeze  up  your 
kindlier  humanities,  and  to  imprison  and  to  stiffen  the 
natural  outflow  of  your  charities. 

10.  I  could  understand  a  wounding  trouble,  like  last 
year's.  With  all  the  stir  about  you  that  you  are  bound  to 
cause,  such  wounds  must  be  possible.  There  are  risks, 
and  they  are  cruel.  There  may  be  blows  and  griefs  that 
wiU  be  bitter.  But  I  cannot  endure  that  you  should  be 
clouded,  as  by  a  settled  failure,  or  should  have  faUen  into 
a  careless  indifference  to  what  life  may  yet  bring  you  :  as 
if  there  were  no  surprises,  no  lifts,  no  wonders,  no  glories, 
no  splendours  awaiting  you,  as  yet  unguessed.  Surely, 
they  are  coming  :  surely,  they  would  arrive.  What  is  it 
that  hides  them  ?  that  blocks  their  arrival  ? 

Forgive  me  for  writing  like  this  :  but  it  seems  to  me 
serious  :  and  I  cannot  but  care  with  all  my  soul  about  it. 
Happiness  is  never  a  thing  to  aim  at  :  but  it  is  a  true  index 
of  whether  we  are  on  the  right  way.  And  you  ought  to  be 
so  much  more  happy.  With  all  your  beautiful  gifts,  life 
ought  to  feel  a  joy,  and  a  privilege,  and  a  reality,  and  a 


LETTERS  TO  A  YOUNG  COUSIN  271 

hope.     It  ought  to  be  happy  1     It  ought  not  to  be  heavy- 
loaded.     Can  we  not  win  the  way  out  into  the  hght  ? 

Somewhere — close  at  hand,  in  your  home,  at  your  side — 
is  there  not  the  possibility  of  some  gladness  ?  Is  there  not 
a  treasure  hid  in  the  field  ?  What  is  it  ?  I  don't  know. 
Each  must  find  for  himself.  But  every  hfe  has  its  oppor- 
tunities. Every  life  hides  a  treasure,  something  which 
can  be  unearthed,  close  at  our  feet.  How  can  you  look 
for  it  ?  How  may  you  find  ?  It  always  lies  in  some  un- 
selfish interest  in  other  people  :  but  that  is  all  I  know. 

11.  Tyn-y-Bryn. — How  I  long  for  life  to  become  tenderer 
to  you,  and  more  inspiring,  and  satisfying,  and  full-filling. 
So  much  you  could  do,  and  be,  dear,  if  you  found  the  way. 
Yet  you  seem  to  yourself  to  have  not  found  it.  And  that 
is  what  holds  you  back  from  finding  it.  Ways  open,  when 
we  don't  think  about  them  but  walk  straight  ahead  in  hope, 
and  in  kindhness,  and  in  unselfish  trust.  But  there  !  This 
is  rapidly  dropping  into  a  dreadful  sermon.  You  must 
forgive  it,  for  at  least  it  tells  you  how  much  I  care.  If 
you  were  but  here  !  You  might  even  confess  that  there  is 
loveliness  outside  Perthshire.  So  delicious,  and  delicate, 
this  exquisite  colour  and  line  of  Welsh  hills.  I  roam  alone, 
and  mourn  over  old  days.  Some  of  the  happiest  in  all 
my  life,  for  twenty-five  years,  have  been  here.  And  the 
waters  all  know  it,  and  go  talking  on  about  it :  and  the  hills 
remember,  and  are  quiet  and  silent. 

12.  [After  Lawrence  Holland's  death.)  Death  is  an 
impossible  thing.  That  is  the  only  fact  that  is  clear. 
Straight  into  it,  we  all  move  ;  with  faces  set  forward  : 
nothing  can  defeat  us  :  we  take  death  in  our  stride.  Some- 
thing happens,  which  makes  us  pass  out  of  sight  :  and  what 
that  is,  no  one  understands  :  and  what  is  done  on  the 
far  side,  no  one  can  say.  But,  for  aU  that,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  it  belongs  to  what  we  did  here.  That  is  what  grows 
to  be  a  certainty  which  every  reasonable  faculty  asserts. 
Only,  the  vanishing  is  so  pitiful :  and  the  silence  so  quelling. 

...  I  was  grateful  to  see  you  moving  about  the  house 
so  happily,  and  cheering  your  mother,  and  assisting  her. 
Do  these  things  come  easier  ?  Home  is  our  test  ground, 
isn't  it  ?  What  can  we  make  of  it  ?  What  can  we  do  for 
it  ?  How  can  we  give  it  good  heart  ?  It  is  our  nursery 
of  faithfulness.  And  then,  if  we  can  be  loyal  there,  we 
may  deserve  to  be  tried  elsewhere  in  a  new  task. 


272  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

13.  Every  book  in  which  I  have  ever  been  interested, 
every  poem,  every  life,  every  picture,  all  have  said  the  same. 
No  nobility  of  character  has  been  gained  without  suffering. 
Somehow,  literature  and  art  confess  it :  we  are  only  drawn 
towards  those  lives  and  souls  which  have  passed  to  their 
happiness  through  much  tribulation. 

This  is  not  morbid  :  it  does  not  deny  the  intense  value 
and  reality  of  happiness  :  it  is  the  proper  goal.  But  yet, 
in  fact,  it  seems  never  to  be  touched  in  its  highest  form 
without  this  discipline.  We  are  soldiers  :  life  is  a  war  : 
we  battle  through  to  the  peace  :  not  without  dust  and  heat, 
are  we  crowned  :  this  is  the  old,  old  burden  of  every  song. 

Yet  it  is  bitter  to  learn  it ;  we  have  witnessed  to  it  by 
our  attraction  to  it  in  books  :  but,  as  we  wake  to  find  it 
actual  and  true  in  ourselves,  and  our  own  turn  has  come, 
and  we  have  to  taste  this  cup  from  which  those  others  all 
drank,  it  is  just  as  fierce  and  repugnant  a  reality  as  if  we 
had  never  heard  of  it  before. 

Surely,  pain  of  this  kind  compels  prayer  :  compels  you 
to  pray  that  you  may  see  your  way,  and  may  have  courage, 
and  hope,  and  patience,  and  endurance,  and,  if  it  may  be, 
victory.  Pray  that  you  may  find  a  clue  through  the  maze  : 
and  may  take  the  right  road  :  and  may  apprehend  the 
directions  given.  Prayer  is  an  effort  to  walk  with  God. 
Not  easy,  dearest,  I  know  well.  I  am  not  preaching  at  you, 
as  if  it  were  a  light  thing.  Only,  it  is  the  one  road,  which, 
stumble  and  groan  as  we  may  in  finding  it,  does  at  last 
reveal  itself  as  peace.     I  shall  be  thinking  of  you  so  often. 

14.  Hawardcn. — I  am  certain  that  the  situation  you 
describe  is  desperately  unwholesome.  Nothing  can  be  more 
spirit-killing,  or  demoralising,  than  to  go  on  and  on  with 
things  that  assume  throughout  that  they  are  merry  and 
pleasant,  when  pleasure  is  the  last  thing  you  find  in  them. 
The  strain  of  keeping  it  up  hurts,  damages,  sours  :  it  is 
unreal  itself,  and  so  breeds  distrust  of  your  fellow-creatures 
through  disgust  at  yourself.  It  is  sure  to  provoke  bitterness, 
and  cynicism,  and  all  the  cruelties.  ...  I  dread  your 
trying  to  fight  down  your  unhappiness  by  keeping  j^ourself 
incessantly  "at  it."  This  can  only  harden  :  it  makes  you 
more  sick  at  heart.  The  one  security  lies  in  occupying 
yourself  in  the  interests  of  others,  so  as  to  help  you  to 
forget  your  own  sorrows.  In  caring  for  others'  joys  and 
griefs,  one  can  make  one's  escape  good  out  of  the  ring  of 


LETTERS  TO  A  YOUNG  COUSIN  273 

distressing  self-reflections  and  pitiful  regrets.  A  self- 
centred  Hfe  is  the  hopeless  curse.  It  is  doomed  to  sterile 
pain.  One  must  break  out  of  it  by  violence,  if  circum- 
stances tend  to  create  it.  Anything,  to  get  out  of  the 
ring-fence  of  self-preoccupation. 

15.  Abinger  Hatch. — You  have  been  lonely  in  Scotland, 
have  you  ?  It  must  be  serious  :  those  long  enclosed  winters. 
And  London,  certainly,  is  warm  and  human,  with  its  teeming 
life  for  all  who  can  throw  their  lot  in  with  the  swarm  of  the 
hive. 

Yet  no  winter  in  Scotland  can  ring  a  soul  round  with 
the  loneliness  that  is  so  terrible  for  thousands  in  this  big 
London — thousands  who,  in  the  thick  of  these  jostling 
throngs,  are  aware  that  no  one  cares  a  fig  whether  they 
are  alive  or  dead ;  that  no  single  creature  would  stop  to 
ask  why  they  had  dropped  out ;  that  every  one  of  these 
multitudes,  struggling  for  place  and  room  and  food,  would 
feel  themselves  relieved  a  little  because  there  is  one  less  in 
the  world. 

That  is  the  loneliness  that  maddens,  the  loneliness  that 
can  only  be  felt  in  the  midst  of  a  huge  city.  So  give  these 
poor  souls  a  thought,  and  a  gush  of  good  hope,  when  you 
are  down  at  heart,  dear  child.  Let  relief  come  in  the 
memory  of  others,  who  touch  a  note  of  sympathy  in  you, 
which  your  own  feeling  of  loneliness  makes  you  aware  of. 

We  had  such  a  merry  ding-dong  philosophic  dinner  the 
other  night,  in  a  certain  "  Synthetical  Society  "  which  has 
started  on  the  task  of  pulling  everybody  together.  Arthur 
Balfour  opened  the  discussion,  after  dinner,  in  full  Cabinet 
Minister's  get-up  for  the  Speaker's  levee,  which  was  on 
that  night.  And  you  ought  to  have  seen  Haldane  making 
a  speech  about  Hegel,  in  a  Court  suit  of  black  velvet.  Fred 
Myers  was  there,  and  Gerald  Balfour,  and  Wilfrid  Ward, 
and  a  job  lot  of  us  :  rather  fun. 

16.  Do  I  know,  you  ask,  what  it  is  to  wish  to  "go  out," 
and  "  have  done  with  it  all  "  ?  Yes,  dear  :  but  I  know 
quite  well,  too,  that  when  I  feel  like  that,  I  am  letting  my 
weakness  get  the  better  of  me.  It  is  a  deep-seated  desire, 
with  a  long  history  to  it :  it  has  inspired  whole  philosophies  : 
and  many  poems  :  and  one  vast  religion.  But,  always, 
it  has  been  a  sign  of  sterility  ;  of  reaction  :  of  surrender. 
And,  always,  it  has  had  in  it  a  note  of  selfishness.  It  is  the 
cry  of  the  individual  self  in  its  passion  for  life,  for  happiness. 

T 


374  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

"  I  would  I  were  dead  !  "  means  (as  Grania  says),  "  I 
would  I  were  alive,  alive  in  all  my  fulness,  uncurtailed, 
untraversed. "  It  is  the  false  shadow  of  the  desire  to  live — 
which  is  the  deepest  desire  in  man's  heart. 

"  I  shall  live."  "  I  will  live."  That  is  the  root-assertion, 
which  we  must  all  make.  That  is  the  spring  of  all  that  has 
ever  been  said,  or  done.  The  only  question  is,  "  How  shall 
I  live  ?  "  And  the  answer  of  hope,  and  of  force,  is  always 
"  I  will  live  with  others,  in  others,  not  as  my  own,  but  as 
theirs  :  sharing  their  lot :  rising,  falling,  stumbling,  breaking, 
as  they  do  :  moving  with  them,  at  whatever  cost  to  my- 
self ;   towards  a  good  which  is  theirs,  as  well  as  mine." 

Did  you  ever  read  Carlyle  ?  "  Sartor  Resartus  "  is  a 
queer  wild  book  :  but  it  said  for  me,  and  for  many  in  my 
young  days,  the  last  word  on  all  this.  It  taught  us  to  go 
forward,  and  live,  and  not  surrender,  and  never  despair, 
and  not  demand  our  own  happiness,  as  a  thing  alone,  but, 
blessing  it  when  it  came  with  a  full  heart,  still  to  go  forward 
as  brave  soldiers  in  the  vast  campaign.  Dearest,  this  is 
tough,  hard  teaching.  And  I  do  pray  that  you  may  be 
spared  its  hardest ;  and  be  given  joy.  But  I  count  on  your 
bravery,  and  your  hopefulness,  and  your  goodness,  even 
though  you  wait  in  bitterness  for  a  joy  now  denied.  God 
help  you  to  keep  a  good  heart. 

17.  The  world  of  suffering  humanity  wants  you  :  it 
needs  your  help  :  it  craves  your  sympathy.  Carry  to  it 
a  heart  purged  by  suffering.  You  understand  now : 
you  can  feel  for  all  who  mourn.  Look  out  upon  them. 
Remember  them.  You  are  here,  to  lend  a  helping  hand  : 
to  verify  human  brotherhood.  There  is  time.  You  can 
do  it.  Only,  you  must  shatter  self.  Only,  you  must 
trust  the  large,  deep  love  of  God.  Only,  all  small  longings 
for  revenge,  or  for  hate,  must  be  stripped  off.  Love  is  the 
sole  key  to  life  :  love  that  trusts,  believes,  forgives.  Love 
men  and  women  :  those  about  you,  those  nearest  at  hand  : 
think  of  them,  of  their  wants,  of  their  good-cheer.  Take 
trouble  to  brighten  their  days.  Then,  the  heart  grows 
sweet :  then,  the  spirit  forgets  its  wounds  :  then,  life  loses 
its  rubs  and  its  provocations  :  then,  the  dumb  heaven 
begins  to  speak.  God  help  you,  dear,  to  grow  in  tender 
charity,  through  your  sorrow. 


Ill 

LETTERS   OF   CRITICISM   AND   OF   PORTRAITURE 

These  letters  are  put  in  order  of  time  ;  but  the  dates 
of  three  or  four  of  them  have  been  guessed,  not  known  for 
certain. 

Among  his  earhest  letters  of  criticism,  one  is  on  the 
St.  Matthew  Passion-music,  given  in  Cathedral  on  March  20, 
1873  :  "  The  recitative  is  wonderfully  sustained  and  direct, 
but  a  little  wearying  with  its  Protestant  determination  to 
tell  you  all  you  ought  to  know  :  and  the  dramatic  choruses, 
marvellous  as  they  are,  do  not  suit  English  words  and  tone 
and  atmosphere  :  they  become  burlesque.  But  the  strength 
and  force  and  earnestness  of  the  whole  is  astounding  :  the 
chorales  are  as  perfect,  in  their  simplicity  and  unending 
freshness  of  beauty,  as  religious  music  can  possibly  be,  it 
seemed  to  me.  .  .  .  And  the  last  chorus  has  all  the  flooding 
effect  that  a  touch  of  beautiful  melody  has,  after  the  long 
development  of  pure  musical  harmony  hardly  ever  softening 
into  '  tune  '  throughout  the  whole  of  the  piece."  Another 
letter,  in  1876,  is  on  the  B  minor  Mass  :  "  The  depth  of 
religious  feeling  is  so  thrilling  through  that  noble  music. 
This  is  what  gives  it  its  more  searching  and  entrancing 
power  than  old  Handel  with  all  his  dramatic  vigour  can 
achieve.  Handel  can  treat  the  dramatic  side  of  religion  ; 
but  not  the  inner  depths.  He  knows  them  not.  I  do 
not  beheve  he  knew  much  what  a  Creed  meant ;    while  in 

-     275 


276  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Bach  you  felt  a  personal  living  sense  of  what  Resurrection 
meant — '  Et  exspecto  Resurrectionem  '  :  and  then  the 
finer  subtler  feeling  for  spiritual  life  with  its  manifold  and 
quickening  motion — how  that  broke  out  in  the  wonderful 
*  Cum  Spiritu  Sancto.'  I  do  thoroughly  joy  in  the  intensive 
power  of  Bach's  chorus  :  the  working-out  of  part  woven 
into  part,  growing  and  growing,  and  twining  in  and  out,- 
with  ever  richer  and  fuller  intensity,  till  they  mingle  and 
mingle,  and  rise  climbing  one  above  another,  and  clash, 
and  break  off  again."  It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  these 
two  performances  belong  to  the  beginning  of  the  revival 
of  Bach  in  this  country. 

Another  of  his  earhest  letters  of  criticism  (?  1876  or 
1877)  is  to  Heywood  Sumner,  on  Daniel  Deronda  : — 

Gwendolen,  of  course,  carries  the  entire  book  along 
from  end  to  end,  a  study  full  of  help  and  wonder  and  marvel- 
lous minuteness  of  discovery  :  she  discloses  the  tissues  of 
life,  fibre  by  fibre,  all  distinct  and  numbered  and  noted. 
I  know  nothing  in  literature  more  powerful  than  that 
sense  of  the  mastery  of  the  man  over  the  woman,  of  Grand- 
court  over  Gwendolen  ;  loathed,  despised,  silent,  inexpres- 
sive, it  yet  nips  her  like  a  vice  closes  dumbly  and  blindly 
on  a  quivering  rabbit ;  the  resolute,  unswerving,  unfeeling 
bite  of  the  horrible  teeth  that  nothing  can  escape,  nothing 
delay  or  relax.  It  is  most  awful ;  it  oppresses  you  like 
a  nightmare.  Yet  how  easily,  how  invisibly  it  is  done. 
No  mechanism,  no  tangible  necessity  for  it.  Yet  there 
it  is,  cold  and  naked  as  iron  ;  and  she  feels  it  as  an  animal 
feels  a  shuddering  sweating  terror  in  the  dark  ;  and  she 
crouches  and  cringes  under  it  as  if  it  were  a  veritable  whip. 

But  there  is  another  letter  to  Heywood  Sumner  (?  1880), 
on  Blake ;  it  displays  that  more  quiet,  more  incisive  style 
which  made  Holland  a  prince  among  critics  :  "  Blake  had 
an  eye  such  as  reads  through  and  through  the  last  secrets 
of  life  with  the  directness  and  force  of  ancient  days,  when 
minds  were  fresh  and  pure  as  Abraham's  at  Ur  of  the 


LETTERS  OF  CRITICISM  AND  PORTRAITURE    277 

Chaldees.  He  is  so  often  strong  with  Biblical  strength  ; 
marvellous  as  the  earliest  tales  are  marvellous.  He 
meditates  like  Isaac  in  the  fields  at  evening." 

Browning 

Oct.  1882.  To  J.  W.  Williams. — Our  poet  is  essentially 
dramatic,  and  universal  in  his  drama.  He  notes  and 
watches  aU  :  and  struggles  to  insert  himself  into  the  heart- 
secret  of  all  lives.  He  is  always  worming  himself  into 
the  recesses  of  strange  nooks,  and  vividly  reproducing 
this  or  that  mode  of  temper. 

In  the  course  of  this  dramatic  progress  through  the 
human  world,  he  has  produced  three  very  short,  rough, 
unimportant  side-pieces,  which  present  us  with  the  temper 
of  the  demi-monde  ;  and  has  left  these  pieces  standing, 
unexplained.  "  Respectability  "  is  one,  "  Confessions  "  is 
another.  And  he  has  tried  to  make  this  temper  dramati- 
cally intelligible.  He  has  sent  into  it  the  breath  of  a  sort 
of  justification — he  has  brought  out  "  the  fun  of  it,"  the 
daring,  the  vividity — he  has  declared  that  there  is  a  joy 
obscurely  hunted  in  it  all,  and  so  protests  against  the 
assumption  that  it  is  aU  "  dust  and  ashes."  The  wild 
protest  against  smug  respectability  is  allowed  its  force. 

If  you  want  to  read  a  justification  of  this,  read  Words- 
worth's approval  of  Burns'  poetic  treatment  of  drunken- 
ness, quoted  in  Myers'  Life  of  Wordsworth.  Browning 
has  a  strong  feeling  for  the  immense  value  of  living  action  : 
he  likes  to  follow  this  out  in  shapes  which  by  themselves 
are  condemnable  :  cf.  The  Statue  and  the  Bust.  His  own 
justification  of  himself  is  given  at  length  in  Fifine : 
cf.  especially  the  passage  about  Raphael  and  Gustave  Dor6. 
He  is  so  firm  in  his  belief  in  the  true  absoluteness  of  the 
wedded  love,  that  he  can  afford,  he  pleads,  to  let  his  study 
and  his  fancy  try  to  disentangle  the  web  of  lust :  and,  to 
do  this,  he  must  for  the  moment  let  his  thought  and  imagin- 
ation go  afield — yet  the  true  wife  need  never  fear  :  no 
touch  of  her  real  hold  is  gone. 

It  is  surely  impossible  to  doubt  Browning's  true  treat- 
ment of  love  in  its  perfect  purity.  Just  conceive  the 
proportion  of  these  three  pieces  to  the  large  and  momentous 
studies  of  pure  love — Pompilia — James  Lee's  Wife — In  a 
Balcony — Any  Wife  to  any  Husband — By  the  Fireside — 


278  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

One  Word  More — and  a  hundred  others.  His  whole  power 
and  soul  have  gone  out  to  portray  the  one  ;  a  few  stray 
whiffs  of  imaginative  amusement  have  been  allowed  to  the 
other. 


A  Retreat  at  Keble 

Oct.  17,  1885.  To  Dr.  Talbot. — This  is  to  reach  you  as 
we  sit  breakfasting  in  Keble  Hall,  after  the  old  familiar 
celebration  in  the  Chapel — with  all  the  well-known  backs 
bowed  in  front  of  one — "  featureless  organs "  perhaps, 
but  yet  backs  which  gather  up  into  their  sloping  shoulders 
and  slowly-increasing  waists  the  memory  of  all  the  buried 
Terms  which  have  grouped  themselves  about  and  around 
the  backs  of  old  Freeling,  and  of  Livingstone,  and  of  Nance, 
and  of  all  those  first  caught  sight  of,  at  each  first  Saturday, 
kneeling  in  front  of  one  in  Keble  Chapel.  One  familiar 
and  dear  lump  will  be  gone — the  muffled  and  lumped-up 
back  of  Edward  King.  But  the  arrowy  head  of  Paget  will 
take  its  place,  with  its  locks  washed  back  into  a  thin  keen 
wisp.  And  there  will  be  fresh-coated  backs  of  the  newly 
ordained,  to  fill  up  ranks.  And  only  one  loss  can  never 
be  retrieved — the  loss  of  the  long-backed  Warden,  with 
the  drooping  surplice  and  the  loose-draped  hood.  Dear 
Man,  would  you  could  be  there. 


Tennyson 

Feb.  17,  1886.  To  Miss  Arnold-Forster.  ("  Tiresias, 
and  Other  Poems  "  had  been  published  in  1885.) — I  do  not 
think  I  can  leave  England,  and  not  explain  my  rude  and 
rough  words  about  Tennyson,  which  distressed  you. 

Certainly  he  is  himself  strongly  Christian.  I  did  not 
mean  to  deny  that.  But  like  many  a  man,  his  reasons 
for  his  creed  may  greatly  differ  from  his  creed  :  and  when- 
ever he  offers  me  his  reasons  for  religion,  I  recognise  a  line 
of  argument,  familiar  enough  in  philosophy,  and  which 
I  always,  when  I  meet  it,  feel  to  be  a  form  of  thinking 
uncongenial  to  Christian  logic,  and  unable  to  arrive  at 
Christian  conclusions. 

This  proof  of  the  Unknown  and  the  Nameless  is  an 
excellent  and  essential  piece  of  philosophic  discipline.     A 


LETTERS  OF  CRITICISM  AND  PORTRAITURE    279 

philosopher  is  bound  to  follow  it  out :  it  is  part  of  his 
apprenticeship  :  his  proper  part  is  to  strip  off  outward 
forms,  and  arrive  at  the  abstract  and  the  general.  He 
must  do  this  before  he  can  begin  any  fruitful  work. 

But  it  is  very  fruitless,  negative,  empty.  It  is  an 
intellectual  gymnastic  that  he  ought  to  practise  :  that  is 
aU. 

And  I  cannot  ever  believe  that  the  remote  and  empty 
abstraction  so  arrived  at  can  possibly  be  a  fitting  subject 
for  poetic  treatment.  A  poet  is  not  a  philosopher :  in 
some  ways,  he  is  the  very  opposite  :  and  especially  in 
this,  that  he  is  never  abstract,  always  concrete,  full,  rich  ; 
he  loves  to  spiritualise  the  outward,  not  to  strip  it  off :  his 
familiar  work  is  to  reconcile  the  inner  spirit  with  the  out- 
ward expression  it  takes.  He,  and  religion,  are  employed 
in  correcting  the  philosopher  :  they  both  cling  to  the  concrete 
forms  :  they  abhor  empty  and  remote  abstractions.  They 
cannot  breathe  in  that  artificial  atmosphere.  They  over- 
leap the  speculative  difficulties,  they  laugh  at  the  dilemma 
and  antitheses  of  slow-paced,  hesitating,  patient,  plodding, 
lagging  Reason. 

I  am  disappointed  with  my  poet  when  he  lags  behind, 
too,  with  foolish  old  Reason,  who  is  stiU  stumbling  about 
at  the  first  step  of  all. 

Christian  thought  has  left  all  the  bothering  dilemma 
behind,  which  tries  to  discover  God  by  intense  abstraction 
from  aU  manifestations.  It  says  boldly,  "  The  Word  is 
made  flesh  :  find  God,  in  the  flesh  :  do  not  be  afraid  of  the 
old-world  subtleties  and  timid  scruples  of  the  philosophers." 

This  is  why  I  feel  Tennyson's  argument  to  be  pre- 
Christian,  non-Christian.  I  do  not  think  it  would  ever 
really  lead  him  home  to  the  convictions  that  I  gladly  and 
thankfully  see  that  he  holds. 


Dr.  Temple 

1886.  To  Miss  Evelyn  Holland,  after  her  brother's 
confirmation. — I  rejoice  that  you  love  that  strong  lion  of 
a  Bishop,  with  his  hoarse  roar,  and  his  jungle  of  whiskers, 
and  his  rock-like  face  :  yet  so  noble,  and  tender,  and  true, 
and  powerful :  he  always  makes  me  cry  with  joy  that 
earth  holds  any  one  so  spiritually  great.     He  is  especially 


28o  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

noble  at  confirmation.  I  heard  him  at  St.  Paul's  on  the 
Monday  after  Bryan's  confirmation,  when  a  most  sweet 
Japanese  boy  was  confirmed  whom  I  had  been  seeing : 
and  I  thought  the  Bishop  as  great  as  it  is  possible  to  be. 
I  tingle  under  him.  He  is  like  a  tiger  hungry  for  righteous- 
ness. 

Mr.  Bradlaugh 

May,  1886.  To  Dr.  Talbot. — Bradlaugh  is  silly,  and 
very  weak,  certainly.  We  have  exposed  him,  I  think, 
so  far  as  we  go.  We  should  never  have  thought  he  was 
so  contemptible  a  creature  intellectually,  or  so  hopelessly 
uneducated.  However,  we  must  go  on  pretending : 
evidently,  he  is  pleased  at  being  taken  seriously  :  and  is 
very  kind,  and  courteous. 


The  Gospel  Record 

Jan.  5,  1889.  To  J.  W.  Williams. — I  had  an  interesting 
Jew  come  to  me  the  other  day — an  Oxford  graduate,  of 
Balliol  and  Clifton  :  and  he  said,  "It  is  curious,  but  I 
have  gone  through  exactly  the  reversed  process  of  Robert 
Elsmere  :  I  began  where  he  leaves  off,  in  a  broad  Jewish 
Theism ;  and  I  have  slowly  become  convinced  of  the 
absolute  reliability  of  the  Gospel  narrative."  He  had  shut 
himself  up  with  the  Gospels  :  he  was  an  historical  student, 
in  the  History  School :  he  concluded  that  he  must  deny 
his  historical  instincts  if  he  did  not  give  credit  to  the  Gospel 
evidence.     That  was  nice. 


Lux  Mundi 

October,  1890,  To  Bishop  Copleston. — I  was  glad  and 
refreshed  to  get  your  last  dear  letter,  and  to  know  how 
kindly  you  were  to  us  poor  Luxites  :  we  feared  furies  : 
and  dark  rumours  were  abroad  :  but  your  criticism  was 
most  temperate,  and  friendly,  and  equitable.  Poor  old 
book  !  I  look  at  it  and  wonder.  I  thought  it  so  dreadfully 
heavy  and  dull  when  I  first  read  it  :  I  never  thought  that 
we  should  induce  anyone  to  read  it  outside  the  circle  of  our 
aunts  and  mothers,  and  a  few  patient-minded  clergy.    The 


LETTERS  OF  CRITICISM  AND  PORTRAITURE    281 

old  book  itself  looked  conscious  of  its  own  dead  weight  : 
and  never  dreamt  of  this  stormy  and  excited  career,  I 
suppose  that  this  lack  of  anticipation  shows  how  small 
are  the  circles  we  each  live  in,  and  how  impotent  we  are  to 
estimate  the  effect  of  our  words  on  those  a  little  further 
off.  We  ourselves  seemed  to  ourselves  to  have  been  saying 
these  things  for  years  ;  and  to  have  heard  everybody  else 
saying  them.  Now  suddenly  we  find  it  all  spoken  of  as  a 
bomb,  as  a  new  Oxford  movement,  etc.,  etc.  We  wonder 
who  we  are. 


Herbert  Spencer 

Dec.  1890.  To  a  lady  who  wanted  to  read  some 
philosophy ^  and  thought  of  beginning  with  Herbert  Spencer. — 
As  to  Herbert  Spencer.  I  own  that  I  think  philosophy 
an  almost  impossible  subject  to  read,  without  special 
training.  It  is  the  hardest  of  all  special  studies  :  and  it  is 
hopeless  to  make  a  plunge  into  it  far  down  the  line.  For 
the  movement  of  philosophy  is  historical :  its  last  steps 
are  unintelligible  except  to  those  who  have  arrived  at  them 
by  the  way  by  which  they  actually  were  reached.  Spencer 
himself  has  suffered  helplessly  by  lack  of  previous  apprentice- 
ship ;  he  makes  a  hopeless  muddle  whenever  he  does  more 
than  thread  together  the  systematic  conception  of  the 
evolutionary  idea.  In  metaphysic,  and,  above  all,  in 
moral  philosophy,  he  is  the  clumsiest  and  most  blundersome 
of  guides.  I  know  no  one  who  has  such  a  terrible  stupidity. 
I  do  not  mean  that  Spencer  has  not  done  a  great  deal  in 
the  way  of  showing  us  how  wide  is  the  ground  covered  by 
the  formula  of  evolution.  But  outside  that,  he  is  most 
barren  :  and  he  has  a  way  of  stunting  the  growth  of  mind 
in  those  who  yield  to  him,  which  is  dismal. 


Two  Poets 

May,  1902.  To  W.  H.  Savile.  I  do  indeed  thank  you 
for  your  most  graceful  and  tender  poems.  They  touch 
the  true  chord,  and  they  do  so  with  artistic  success.  The 
handling  of  the  technical  form  is  wonderfully  easy  and 
effective.  It  is  evidently  your  natural  instrument.  I 
have  enjoyed  them  much.     If  you  happen  to  read  "  Songs 


282  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

of  Childhood/'  by  Walter  Ramal  [Walter  de  la  Mare], 
will  you  tell  me  what  you  think  of  them  ?  Several  of  them 
appear  to  me  to  possess  perfect  magic,  e.g.,  the  Englishman, 
and  The  Ogre,  and  The  Supper.  They  are  by  an  old  choir- 
boy, and  Henry  Newbolt  is  greatly  struck  by  them. 


The  Natural  Man 

April  7,  1904.  To  Dr.  Lock,  Warden  of  Keble. — As  to 
the  development  of  goodness  in  the  natural  man.  Don't  you 
think  that  the  special  aim  of  our  Lord's  mission  on  earth 
was  to  convict  that  very  goodness  of  its  failure  at  the  pinch  ? 
This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  force  of  St.  Peter,  St.  John,  and 
St.  Paul.  It  is  the  conviction  of  the  good,  that  His  presence 
brings  about.  The  development  leads  up  to  the  consum- 
mation, but  does  not  attain  without  convicting  itself  of 
final  failure  just  as  attainment  is  in  sight.  Have  you  looked 
at  Lex  Orandi,  by  the  Jesuit  Tyrrell  ?  He  is  very  good 
on  our  old  point,  that  the  natural  man  is  an  abstraction 
which  never  really  existed  :  so  that  what  we  mean  is, 
that  man  so  far  as  he  is  really  natural  has  the  nature  of  sin  : 
but  man  as  a  fact  has  never  been  anything  else  but  super- 
natural. 


Newman 

May  22,  1908.  To  W.  H.  Carey,  thanking  him  for  a 
little  bust  of  Newman. — It  has  got  the  old  touch  in  the 
face  and  the  beautiful  forehead.  You  remember  the 
sculptor  who  said  that  everybody  else's  head  after  Newman's 
felt  like  a  turnip.  It  is  very  gentle,  and  the  face  has  a  look 
of  the  old  labourer  at  the  cottage  door,  which  Arthur 
Lyttelton  noticed  in  Cardinal  Newman  long  ago,  the  sad 
quiet  wistfulness,  and  a  little  bewildered  at  a  world  which 
had  been  so  odd  to  him. 


Christianity  a  Romance 

July  10,  1908.  To  Mr.  Cheshire. — Stratford  tells  me 
that  you  want  to  know  why  Christianity  is  a  romance. 
There  could  be  no  better  week  to  ask  why  than  this  one, 


LETTERS  OF  CRITICISM  AND  PORTRAITURE    283 

while  the  Gospel  of  last  Sunday  is  still  in  our  ears.  There  is 
romance  pure  and  simple,  is  there  not  ?  It  appeals  to  the 
elemental  instincts  that  make  great  ventures  and  daring 
experiments,  and  risk  all  losses  and  count  no  costs  and  live 
in  paradox,  Christianity  trusts  those  basic  emotions  which 
defy  calculation,  which  abhor  convention  and  fling  behind 
them  that  which  is  safe  and  secure.  All  the  ninety  and 
nine  go  for  nothing.  Is  not  this  romance  ?  And  yet  it 
is  the  very  heart  of  the  Gospel  and  holds  the  secret  of  the 
Incarnation.  Pity,  adventure,  sacrifice,  self-abandonment, 
these  are  the  driving  forces  which  are  always  to  carry  us 
past  the  sanities  of  the  orderly  reason. 

Then  again  there  is  the  trust  that  Christianity  puts  in 
the  release  of  the  individual  character  :  which  is  the  note 
of  romance.  The  individual  life  is  caught  into  the  great 
paradox,  "  I  live  yet  not  I,  Christ  liveth  in  me,"  and  it  can 
fling  the  whole  universe  away  under  this  inspiration,  and 
must  always  be  setting  out  on  fresh  ventures  under  the 
compelling  force  of  Him  who  said,  "  Behold  I  ma.ke  all 
things  new." 

Then,  take  St.  Paul  and  aU  those  vehement,  volcanic 
contrasts — "  as  dying  and  behold  we  live,"  "  sorrowful  and 
yet  always  rejoicing,"  "  as  poor  yet  making  many  rich," 
•'  having  nothing  and  yet  possessing  all  things."  Or  again 
the  great  string  of  adventures  "  in  perils  by  the  sea,"  etc. 
Life  is  for  him  one  long  romance,  just  because  it  is  lived  in 
Him  in  whom  he  is  already  dead,  yet  alive.  All  life  is 
paradox  to  St.  Paul. 

And  then,  think  of  the  romance  that  belongs  to  a  Creed 
which  has  for  its  living  heart  the  tremendous  adventure 
and  tragedy  of  the  last  night  in  the  upper  room,  and  which 
lives  for  ever  in  the  present  memorial  of  a  Body  broken  and 
Blood  shed.  Is  not  this  romance  in  its  deepest  sense,  with 
all  that  is  mystic  and  suggestive  and  inexhaustible  and 
magical  and  unlimited  ? 


Good  Workmanship  in  London 

(?)  1908.  To  Dr.  Percy  Dearmer. — Look  at  all  the 
decoration  on  our  best  City  buildings,  or  on  new  big  houses 
on  the  Embankment,  Finsbury  Circus  and  Pavement :  it 
is  most  delicate.     And  gaze  on  my  Norwich  Union  cherubs. 


284  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Is  not  Paul  Waterhouse's  Nurses'  Home  in  the  Adelphi 
an  admirable  building  ?  Macartney  tells  me  that  in  wood- 
carving  we  could  reproduce  our  stalls,  if  they  were  burned. 
I  am  sure  that  in  a  lot  of  work  we  have  got  a  very  high 
standard.  The  ladies  in  the  spandrels  of  the  new  archway 
from  the  Board  of  Trade  to  the  Local  Government  Board 
buildings  are  exquisite  :  not  the  panel,  which  is  common- 
place. 

A  Bit  of  England 

The  Bowling  Green  Inn,  Ludlow.  Aug.  i6,  1910.  To 
Miss  Winnie  Talbot. — It  is  woeful  to  have  left  you,  and  to 
feel  that  the  happy  spell  is  over.  We  must  go  to  Mozart 
together,  and  celebrate  the  blessed  summer.  Oh,  oh,  oh  ! 
England  !  Yesterday !  Paradise  is  not  in  it.  I  never 
saw  such  wealth  of  gorgeous  beauty — laid  out  on  end  for 
happy  trains  to  glide  through,  laughing  with  joy.  That  is 
surely  the  one  and  only  way  in  which  to  see  and  enjoy  the 
country.  The  harvest  stood  up  and  shouted  at  us  all  the 
way — with  the  gold  in  its  throat.  Here  we  are,  in  a  fairy 
cot,  white  and  high,  with  a  speechless  view  in  front  of  us, 
over  Ludlow,  and  the  Clees,  and  sliding  rivers,  and  bridges 
in  dreams,  and  a  motherly  tower  reigning  over  the  red- 
roofed  chickens  of  houses  like  a  transfigured  hen. 


Two  Bishops 

May  5, 1911.  To  Dr.  Talbot. — I  was  made  quite  miserable 
by  the  sight  of  Oxford  and  Birmingham  at  our  Pusey  House 
meeting.  I  never  saw  two  men  look  so  tired  or  so  forlorn. 
Frank  was  so  thin  that  one  could  have  shaved  oneself  with 
his  head  and  face. 


Theosophy 

March  4,  1913.  To  Miss  Annie  H.  Murray. — This 
theosophy  business  always  bothers  me,  and  I  really  do  not 
know  the  literature  about  it.  It  irritates  me,  and  I  do 
not  follow  it  up.  There  is  a  book  which  indirectly  meets 
it  very  well,  I  think,  called  "  Christ  in  India,"  by  Lucas. 
It  takes  the  Hindoo  business  up  with  great  sympathy,  but 


LETTERS  OF  CRITICISM  AND  PORTRAITURE    285 

also  showing  its  hopeless  inadequacy,  especially  in  the  form 
of  re-incarnation,  and  Karma.  It  fails  to  give  reality  to 
history,  or  any  corporate  social  purpose  to  life.  It  is  an 
interminable  private  drama  of  the  individual  soul.  It 
establishes  no  bonds,  and  allows  for  no  remedies.  I  wonder 
if  Marion  has  still  got  the  paper  book,  on  Karma,  by  Hogg, 
which  we  had  for  the  Guild  of  the  Epiphany.  I  think  it 
exhibits  the  weakness  of  the  whole  theory  of  life,  which 
seems  to  be  so  logical,  and  yet  so  entirely  fails  the  facts. 
I  ought  to  be  able  to  give  you  a  lot  of  books,  but  I  have  not 
got  them  in  my  mind.  I  will  write  again  after  a  little 
inquiry.  I  have  always  pushed  it  off  in  irritation  at  its 
emptiness. 

I  think  reaUy  that  any  theory  of  re-incarnation  totally 
fails  to  give  reality  to  the  body,  just  as  Hindoo  re-incarna- 
tions of  God  totally  fail  to  interpret  the  Christian  idea  of 
Incarnation,  in  which  that  bodily  life,  which  is  taken  in, 
becomes  part  of  the  actual  personal  life  for  ever,  and  cannot 
be  detached  or  changed  like  a  mere  cloak. 

All  that  we  mean  by  body  is  impersonations,  that  is, 
is  included  in  the  personality  and  inheres  in  it  as  essentially 
as  the  spiritual  elements  do.  Re-incarnation  always 
assumes  the  purely  spiritual  personality  that  can  slip  in 
and  out,  and  divest  itself,  and  go  on,  and  adopt  another 
transitory  form,  which  in  turn  fails  to  belong  to  it.  We 
Christians  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  anything  that  makes 
the  bodily  side  of  life  a  mere  illusion.  Spirit  takes  up  and 
quickens  body,  so  that  it  is  spiritualized  and  acquires  the 
reality  of  spirit.  This  makes  it  impossible  for  a  spirit  to 
have  many  bodies  to  put  on  like  petticoats. 


The  Gospel  Record 

I.  May  17,  1913.     To  Harold  Anson,  during  their  joint 
editorship  of  Commonwealth. — I  am  writing  rather  at  length 

to  on  a  long  letter  that  he  sent  me.     He  was  very 

nice  and  frank  ;  but  to  my  mind  it  means  that  he  is  not 
really  facing  the  actual  Gospel  record.  However  much 
you  may  shift  the  emphasis  from  off  miracles,  the  presenta- 
tion made  of  Christ  is  one  that  holds  in  it  inherently  and 
inevitably  this  supra-normal  element,  and  we  have  got  to 
take  this  element ;    and  if  we  try  to  form  a  judgment  on 


286  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Jesus  Christ  as  recorded  for  us  in  the  one  story  we  know 
of  Him,  omitting  this  supra-normal  factor,  I  think  the  whole 
record  falls  to  pieces,  and  there  is  really  nothing  left  that 
has  stability  enough  to  count.  This  affects  the  whole  life, 
and  culminates  of  course  in  the  Resurrection  :  and  I  feel 
strongly  that  this  instinctive  desire  to  get  away  from  the 
facts  to  their  spiritual  meaning  somehow  just  reverses  the 
spontaneous  temper  of  the  Gospel  itself,  in  which  the 
spiritual  truth  reacts  on  the  fact  and  endows  it  with  ad- 
ditional reality  and  value.  This  is  because  the  Incarnation 
is  above  all  things  not  an  idea  but  an  act,  not  an  illuminating 
thought  but  a  deed  of  the  Divine  Will. 

I  am  anxious  about  this  with  Commonwealth,  because 
historically  for  all  these  years  we  have  steadily  voted  against 
the  tradition  that  to  be  a  social  reformer  you  must  be 
shadowy  in  your  creed.  The  old  Broad  Churchman  has 
made  this  superstition  common.  To  care  about  drains 
was  supposed  to  mean  that  you  sat  loose  to  the  Creed  ; 
and  we  have  upheld  the  counter-position  all  these  years, 
that  the  more  you  believe  in  the  Incarnation  the  more  you 
care  about  drains.  I  cannot  do  anything  now  that  will 
traverse  this  our  motive  and  effort,  so  you  will  see  why  the 
whole  matter  is  rather  near  my  heart. 

2.  December  22,  1913.  To  James  Adderley.  How  idiotic 
these  people  are.  As  if  anybody  could  die  unless  he  has 
first  lived.  And  St.  Paul,  as  you  say,  rested  absolutely  his 
whole  case  on  nothing  but  the  Death,  at  a  certain  moment, 
in  a  certain  way,  upon  the  Cross,  for  a  certain  purpose,  at 
a  fixed  historic  moment  up  to  which  everything  had  been 
leading  and  by  which  the  whole  course  of  history  was 
transformed.  So  He  died  once  for  aU  for  our  sin  ;  and 
the  value  of  the  historical  Death  flows  from  the  historical 
life  and  character  of  the  Person  who  so  died.  He  and  no 
other  could  by  His  death  have  changed  men's  life  ;  and 
He  was  a  Person  Whom  St.  Paul  loved  as  a  master  and 
friend  and  adored  as  God.  What  more  can  you  want  for 
historicity  ?  The  life  is  included  in  the  death,  and  must 
be.  If  the  one  is  historic,  so  is  the  other.  .  .  .  Then  as 
to  the  reason  why  the  historic  fact  is  important.  It  is 
because  Christianity  is  a  gospel  not  of  illumination  but  of 
power.  If  it  was  merely  a  question  of  knowledge  of  God, 
then  the  idea  in  the  fact  would  be  sufficient,  and  the  fact 
might  drop  off.     But  if  what  we  want  is  not  knowledge 


LETTERS  OF  CRITICISM  AND  PORTRAITURE    287 

but  power,  that  is,  an  act,  an  energy  of  God  put  out  on  our 
behalf  to  change  us  from  what  we  are,  then  the  fact  is  the 
act.  That  is  our  Gospel :  that  at  a  certain  moment  in  a 
certain  way  God  did  do  something  which  changed  the 
situation.  The  fact  is  everything.  Did  He  do  it  ?  Only 
if  He  did,  have  we  a  Gospel  at  all.  The  Will  of  God  is  only 
revealed  in  and  by  an  act,  and  a  will  is  only  a  will  so  far  as 
it  acts.  That  is  what  St.  Paul  is  always  proclaiming. 
God  in  Christ  did  something  :  He  put  out  powers,  energy, 
might ;  and  that  is  the  whole  matter.  If  it  did  not  happen, 
then  God  did  not  do  it  and  has  never  done  it.  Is  not  this 
all  that  you  want  ? 


IV 

LETTERS  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT  AND  OF  CONSOLATION 

Comme  d  Vingt  Ans 

To  Miss  Evelyn  Holland. — Dear  Child,  you  believe 
that  I  care,  don't  you  ?  as  your  birthdays  come  round  : 
and  that  I  watch  you  with  deep  and  tender  interest :  and 
that  I  shall  do  so  all  the  more,  as  the  years  thicken,  and 
childhood  drops  away  behind,  and  the  decisions  and  growth 
and  directions  and  affections  of  womanhood  begin  to  press 
upon  you.  Dear  me  !  twenty  years  old  !  And  the  pranks 
and  the  practical  jokes  will  be  all  vanishing  as  their  stage 
ends  :  and  the  poor  unhappy  Queen's  English,  so  long 
repressed,  will  be  seizing  her  chance  of  coming  forward, 
and  of  pressing  her  claims  on  your  consideration.  Poor 
old  lady  !  she  has  had  a  hard  time  of  it,  we  must  confess. 
And  no  wonder  her  curls  are  all  of  a  fluster,  and  her  back 
slightly  up.  However,  we  will  do  our  best  for  her  now  : 
and  cheer  the  old  girl's  heart  a  little.  Anyhow,  God  bless 
you  always,  my  Enie  :  and  let  me  thank  you  for  all  your 
good  affection  to  me  :  and  sometimes,  when  you  can,  say 
a  tiny  prayer  for  me  ;  and  I  will  remember  you. 

To  Miss  Gladys  White. — i.  Dearest  Chick,  pull  yourself 
together.  My  few  rernaining  hairs  are  all  strewn  about 
the  floor  at  my  feet.  It  is  hideous.  But  on  the  31st,  I 
am  nailed  to  a  Chair  in  Holborn  Town  HaU.  For  months, 
that  nail  has  been  piercing  my  vitals  :  but  I  had  forgotten 
it.  Nothing  on  earth  can  drag  me  off  it,  I  fear.  It  is  an 
annual  and  glorious  hullabaloo  over  my  beloved  Universities 
Mission  to  Central  Africa  :  and  we  whoop  and  shout  and 
sing  like  merry  niggers.  Oh  dear  !  and  it  will  be  the  burial 
day  of  your  happy  teens.  ...  Do  not  think  yourself 
useless.     You  are  of  "  use  "  to  all  who  love  you  :    and 

288 


LETTERS  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT  289 

you  are  waiting,  and  learning,  and  gathering  in  stores,  and 
strength  and  skill  and  character,  which  God  will  know  how 
to  use,  if  you  let  Him,  when  His  Day  comes.  We  are  of 
use  if  we  but  grow ;  if  we  refuse  to  come  to  an  end.  This 
day  will  not  put  a  close  on  what  you  are  becoming :  you 
will  go  on  right  through  it :  it  is  but  a  beginning.  Let 
that  be  your  resolution,  your  confidence.  God  bless  you 
for  your  dear  love  for  me,  for  which  I  do  nothing.  God 
bless  you  for  yourself.     God  bless  you  for  Himself. 

2.  Jenny  Lind  was  a  wonder  and  a  joy.  She  passed 
through  life.  That  is  what  she  made  one  feel :  she  was  on 
her  way  somewhere  else  :  it  was  a  movement  across  a 
scene — her  life.  On  she  passed  :  often  in  perplexity  and 
surprise  at  what  she  found  here.  Never  quite  at  home  : 
never  comfortable,  and  settled,  and  at  rest.  On  she  went 
travelling :  and  as  she  passed,  she  left  all  eyes  following 
after  her,  and  all  hearts  wondering  over  her,  as  after  a  sudden 
vision. 

And  you,  dear  child,  you  may  do  something  like  this. 
Keep  the  head  up  and  the  eyes  fixed  on  something  dreamed 
of,  anticipated,  never  seen.  Keep  the  youth  fresh  in  the  heart, 
and  the  innocence,  and  the  purity,  and  the  truth.  Hold 
by  the  reality  of  God,  and  of  goodness  :  and  demand  much 
of  life.  She  never  let  her  young  dreams  go.  She  believed 
that  they  were  the  truth  of  things. 

Someday,  you  will  feel  how  the  world  suffers  :  how 
the  poor  moan.  And  you  will  feel  how  great  a  boon  it  is 
to  a  weary  earth  for  you  to  bring  to  it  a  fresh  young  heart, 
and  a  pure  laugh,  and  a  brimming  gaiety,  and  a  bright 
hope.  Keep  bright  and  good  :  and  then  you  wiU  have  the 
best  gift  to  give  that  can  be  given — yourself  as  God  made 
you. 

Work 

1882-83.  1^0  a  friend,  appointed  Headmaster  of  a  public 
school. — I.  I  begin  to  think  that  it  does  not  much  matter 
where  one  is  :  and  that  we  had  better  not  think  too  care- 
fully about  what  would  most  befit  us.  People  seem  able 
to  do  what  they  have  to  do,  almost  anywhere  :  and  in  spite 
of  circumstance.  I  think  it  is  practically  surer  to  ask.  Is 
this  a  clear  offer,  and  proposal,  which  comes  unasked  ? 
Is  it  work  fitted  ?     Is  it  work  which  I  have  no  positive 

u 


290  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

reason  to  refuse  ?  Never  mind,  much,  the  rest.  The 
kind  of  work  that  one  can  do,  this  a  man  must  settle  for 
himself  :  and  must  resolutely  set  himself  in  the  way  of  it, 
and  struggle  against  all  that  draws  him  away  from  it. 
But  this  once  fairly  settled,  then  the  great  thing  seems  to 
be  to  accept  "  calls  "  to  it,  from  whatever  quarter,  without 
asking  too  many  questions  about  place  or  opportunities, 

2.  Whatever  happens,  it  will  be  right  to  have  attempted 
it :  and,  above  all,  to  have  stuck  loyally  to  it.  I  am  sure 
of  this  :  and  less  and  less  does  it  seem  possible  to  pick 
and  choose  in  this  "  wild  disordered  scene  "  ;  it  grows 
daily  less  important  what  exactly  it  is  that  one  is  doing,  as 
long  as  one  does  it.  I  find  myself  in  a  post  which  I  had 
sworn  not  to  take  ;  a^^d  for  which  I  am  greatly  unfitted  : 
and  the  years  are  flying  :  and  nothing  is  real.  Yet  it 
must  be  right.  It  is  a  time  when  it  is  everything  to  be 
able  to  push  along,  and  give  others  a  shove  in  the  right  way  ; 
and,  rough  and  broken  as  it  all  becomes,  it  is  impertinent 
to  be  troubled  over  it  too  much.  Only  I  long  that  when 
the  apprenticeship  is  served,  and  one  has  taken  one's  part 
in  shoving  weary  shoulders  against  muddy  wheels  in  the 
dark  and  rutty  lane,  and  done  it  unrepiningly,  one  may 
be  given  a  year  or  two  of  blessed  time  to  think  a  little  and 
read  possibly  one  book  through.     It  would  be  such  wonderful 

joy- 

3.  Work  has  to  be  done  at  a  venture  :    I  learn  that 
more  and  more  :    it  does  not  come  out  clear  and  good  : 
it  is  all  done  amid  dreadful  disorder,  with  grievous  and 
patent  inefficiency.     Nothing  of  what  was  to  be,  seems  to 
come  off.     It  is  hugger-mugger  :    it  is  scrappy :    it  is  poor 
and  thin  :  and  the  horrible  gaps  in  it  are  hideous  to  behold. 
I  suppose,  the  one  thing  is  to  struggle  on  with  desperate 
penitence,  and   believe  that    someday,  far   hence,  looking 
back  over  it  all,  it  will  take  some  form  and  fashion  upon 
it,   it  wiU  show  itself  with  some  touch  of  harmony  and   j 
wholeness  to  grace  it  and  justify  it :    it  will  be  known  to    ' 
be  taken  into  the  large,  sure  handling  of  God.     You  speak 
of  a  deeper  sense  of  the  power  of  evil.     That  is  a  growing 
manifestation.     I  have  felt  it  proctorially.     Not  with  any, 
new  light,  or  surprise,  exactly.     The  evil  is  not  larger  than 

I  should  have  supposed.     It  is  not  worse  •   but  it  is  felt  to  I 
be  so  rooted,  so  resolute,  so  firm,  so  radical :    it  does  not 
propose  to  repent ;   it  does  not  deplore  its  own  frailty  and 


LETTERS  OF   ENCOURAGEMENT  291 

suggest  a  change  to  come.  It  remains ;  and  proposes  to 
remain  :  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts,  it  will  have  its  way.  It 
does  not  feel  appeals  :  it  lives  its  life  out,  unabashed.  This 
is  the  sort  of  evil  that  one's  own  life  does  not  prepare  one 
to  meet  or  expect. 

Marriage 

To  a  friend. — I  am  sure  that  the  secret  lies  in  what  you 
said,  i.e.,  in  giving  more  than  you  get.  Each  gets  so  much, 
that  it  tempts  each  to  be  overjoyed  with  the  getting,  and 
to  rest  content  with  the  preciousness  of  the  gift  received. 
It  is  very  blessed  to  receive  so  much.  But  it  is  still  more 
blessed  to  give.  And  everything  that  is  received  ought  to 
spur  one  up  into  an  effort  to  give  back  yet  more.  "  How 
can  I  give  more  than  I  get  ?  "  That  is  the  question  that 
should  haunt.  And,  at  the  start,  the  woman  seems  to 
give  everything  :  the  man  to  get  everything.  And  this 
has  to  be  made  up  for,  afterwards.  The  man's  turn  of 
giving  comes.  He  must  respect  her,  serve  her,  cherish 
her  :  at  cost  to  himself  :  with  self-denial,  with  restraint. 
Marriage  often  asks  a  very  great  deal  of  severe  discipline 
from  the  man,  as  time  goes  on.  There  will  be  opportunities 
enough  for  him  to  practise  self-sacrifice. 


The  Church  of  England  * 

March,  1897.  To  a  friend. — Newman  might  be  excused, 
in  the  heat  of  the  first  revival,  for  deeming  it  an  experiment. 
But  it  has  long  ceased  to  be  an  experiment.  It  has  shown 
itself  to  be  a  vigorous  historical  fact,  in  the  strength  of 
which  people  can  live  out  their  lives,  stiU  assured  that  the 
Real  Presence  which  they  ever  sought,  with  all  its  boons 

*  This  letter  was  written  when  Father  Maturin  had  just  been  received 
into  the  Roman  Church.  There  is  a  story,  by  Mr.  Wilfrid  Parker,  of  a 
later  saying  about  the  Church  of  England  :  "  Dr.  Holland,  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  and  I  were  driving  out  from  Oxford  in  a  motor  to  Cuddesdon, 
for  the  College  Festival,  in  June  191 1 .  When  we  got  to  the  top  of  Horsepath 
Hill,  at  the  point  where  the  beautiful  view  of  the  Chilterns  opens  out,  a 
large  shapeless  flight  of  starhngs  flew  rapidly  over  our  heads.  Dr.  Holland 
looked  at  them  for  a  moment,  and  said,  '  How  like  the  Church  of  England  ! 
Nothing  apparently  keeping  it  together  ;  and  yet  somehow  getting  along 
all  the  time.     Dear  little  Anglican  birds  '  1  " 


292  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

and  energies,  had  never  failed  them  on  the  Church's  altars. 
All  this  is  ours ;  though  perplexities  becloud,  and  un- 
certainties beleaguer,  and  cross-voices  clash,  and  dead 
obstruction  withholds,  and  worldliness  chokes. 

This  is  always  what  the  Church  has  been  in  the  world, 
on  a  large  scale.  Looking  on  at  the  great  Roman  Church 
from  the  perspective  of  history,  it  offers  just  the  same 
spectacle  of  doubtful  struggle.  The  claim  to  Infallibility 
only  intensifies  the  strangeness  of  a  sight  in  which  the 
existence  of  Infallibility  is  itself  so  profoundly  difficult  to 
verify  or  make  good.  Struggle  there  must  be :  anxiety 
there  must  be  :  peril,  confusion,  contradiction.  There  is 
no  escaping  this.  Only,  through  the  cloud,  the  heart  that  is 
true  finds  the  light  reach  it.  In  the  thick  of  the  trouble, 
the  power  is  holding  us  fast.  Asleep  the  Lord  seems  to 
those  of  little  faith  :  but  only  to  those.  I  never  was  more 
sure  of  the  Grace  that  is  with  us  than  to-day. 

Human  Kindness 

i8gy.  To  a  friend. — ^Never  throw  over  the  mass  of  your 
fellows  as  hollow  and  vain  and  hypocritical.  Never  hold 
aloof  from  them  in  contempt  or  condemnation.  Byron, 
with  all  his  splendid  gifts,  left  us  such  a  sterile  message  : 
because  he  tried  to  despise  those  whom,  as  a  poet,  he  was 
bound  to  love.  He  was  himself  quite  as  vain  and  selfish 
as  the  world  which  he  decried.  Everyone  who  denounces 
his  fellows  in  hate  and  scorn,  instead  of  in  the  fervour  of  his 
love  for  them,  convicts  himself.  We  are  what  our  brothers 
are.  We  and  they  stand  and  fall  together.  If  they  are 
contemptible,  so  are  we.  If  we  are  struggling  after  higher 
things,  so  are  they.  If  we  see  visions,  so  do  they.  One 
fate  ;  one  flesh  and  blood ;  one  story ;  one  strife ;  one 
glory — this  is  the  underlying  secret  of  humanity,  and  the 
poet  is  only  a  poet  so  far  as  he  recognises  and  interprets 
this  deep  unity.  He  must  knit  faster  the  human  brother- 
hood. He  must  enter  by  force  of  pity  and  love  into  the 
heart  of  his  brethren. 

Circumstances 

Aug.  1899.  To  a  friend. — I  have  kept  your  plaintive 
letter :    and    hardly  know    how  to    comfort  you.     Only 


LETTERS  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT  293 

consider  how  useless  and  utterly  profitless  must  have  felt 
to  our  Lord  the  pinched  and  cramping  restraints  of  that 
poor  Jew  life  in  Nazareth.  Outside,  the  splendours  and 
treasures  of  Greece  and  Rome  :  all  untouched  by  Him. 
What  weapons,  what  materials,  what  instruments  His 
Church  was  to  find  in  those  Gentile  arts  and  philosophies. 
What  would  He  not  have  made  of  them,  done  with  them  ? 
Such  good  wealth,  for  the  very  purpose  of  His  Life  !  Yet 
the  petty  resources  of  a  bigoted  Jew  village  were  to  be 
His  only  stock  in  trade. 

And  for  30  years — out  of  33 — He  had  no  more  !  And 
could  not  even  put  these  to  use.  Is  not  this  unprofitable 
cramping  ?  Is  not  this  nasty,  and  damping,  and  meaning- 
less poverty  ? 

Yet,  in  accepting  the  limitation,  He  made  it  all  His 
Sacrifice.  He  lifted  it  into  Divine  Acceptance.  He  gave 
it  meaning,  and  value,  in  its  very  meanness  and  contempt. 

As  the  Master,  so  the  servant.  It  was  not  glorious 
endurance  :  it  was  hidden,  stupid,  barren  poverty  of  environ- 
ment. No  one  saw  or  knew.  Can  you  not  place  yours  in 
His,  your  hard  stupid  restraints  within  His  ?  So  give 
glory  to  God. 


To  Miss  Arnold'FoYster 

Athens,  April  22,  1886.  Death  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Forster. — 
Life  is  stretching  itself  out  now  for  you,  life  with  its  old 
habitual  needs,  with  its  common  tasks,  with  its  necessary 
business  ;  and  all  is  to  be  without  him,  without  the  dignity 
and  honour  and  interest  and  shelter  of  that  dear  presence, 
under  the  shadow  of  which  you  have  for  so  long  found  your 
joy.  There  comes  a  silence,  a  dryness,  a  blank,  a  flatness, 
as  one  settles  down  to  the  new  and  poor  and  thinned 
existence. 

Yet  Easter,  with  its  Passion  and  Resurrection,  will 
speak  to  you  with  full  meaning — speak  not  only  of  women 
sitting  all  day  preparing  spices  for  the  beloved  dead,  or 
seeking  him  before  dawn  among  the  tombs — but  of  women 
sent  back  with  a  message  of  hope,  of  activity,  of  life,  from 
the  tomb  itself — of  women  who  must  drop  their  spices  and 
myrrh,  and  go  back  to  urgent  business,  to  rouse  faint- 
hearted men,  to  bid  them  believe,  and  rise,  and  act,  and 


294  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

go  to  Galilee,  and  obey,  and  hope.  "  Woman,  whom 
seekest  thou  ?  "  The  Lord  is  risen :  is  alive,  is  strong. 
He  has  work  to  do,  and  needs  workers  :  and  all  who  die  in 
the  Lord  must  send  back  to  us  the  same  message,  "  Woman, 
whom  seekest  thou  ?  Go  and  tell  those  others  what  to  do. 
Woman,  why  weepest  thou  ?  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why 
stand  ye  gazing  ?  "  Back  we  must  turn,  to  work,  to  life. 
Back,  not  in  forgetfulness  of  the  dear  dead,  but  in  loyalty 
to  their  honour,  to  work  in  the  silent  undying  thought  of 
them,  to  work  in  obedience  to  their  desire,  to  live  as  they 
would  have  us  live,  busy,  urgent — more  busy,  more  urgent, 
because  they  are  gone :  and  their  name  goes  with  us,  and 
their  love  follows  and  urges  and  inspires  us.  God  bless 
you,  and  Mrs.  Forster,  in  this  your  holy  work,  in  this  loyalty 
to  him  who  was  so  dear  to  you. 


To  Miss  May  Talbot 

May  26,  1897.  Death  of  Mary  Burrows. — ^There  is  no 
speech  that  is  tolerable,  in  face  of  such  a  deadly  blow. 
These  are  the  things  that  force  us  to  be  silent  and  to  feel 
for  God's  Hand,  to  hold  by  and  to  press.  There  is  no  lower 
comfort,  short  of  the  very  highest.  It  is  no  good  to  take 
refuge  in  pleas  and  hopes.  It  is  sheer  ruin,  so  far  as  this 
world  goes  :  it  wrecks  the  brightest  and  most  pure  and 
healthy  hopes  imaginable.  Everything  demanded  that 
she  should  live  :  God's  work,  man's  joy.  And  she  is  dead. 
There  is  no  trifling  with  sorrows  like  this.  We  must  walk 
straight  on,  without  a  question,  without  a  look  behind. 
God  is  so  good  :  and  life  is  so  small.  That  is  all  that  we 
know.  We  cling  to  that.  We  refuse  to  fall  back  on  any- 
thing else,  but  that.  The  thing  is  sheer  unmitigated  evil : 
but  God  can  force  even  that  to  become  good  to  those  who 
trust  Him.  Now  is  His  time.  He  alone  can  bring  it  out 
into  victory.     We  watch  :   and  pray  :  while  He  acts. 


To  Miss  May  Talbot 

November,  1900.  Death  of  Helen  Paget. — Go  near  it. 
See  the  Dean,  and  the  children,  and  dear  Mary  Church  : 
and  you  are  abashed  by  your  own  dismay.  They,  who  are 
hit  hardest,  seem  to  know  best  what  it  means  :   they  have 


LETTERS  OF  ENCOURAGEMENT  295 

some  secret :  they  see  their  way.  There  is  hope,  and  light : 
faith  never  shakes.  This  is  always  the  wonderful  thing : 
that  the  nearer  we  go  to  sorrow,  the  more  divine  it  becomes. 
The  actual  disaster  itself  is  horrible  :  is  cruel.  There  is 
no  denying  that.  But  God  works  His  victory  through  the 
disaster  itself :  and  wins  His  grace  out  of  the  very  cruelty. 
He  does  not  abolish  it :  but  He  smites  it  through  and 
through  with  His  transfiguration.  Someday  !  Someday  ! 
we  shall  know.  Come  and  talk.  You  had  the  joy  of 
loving  her,  just  before  she  passed. 


To  Mrs.  Spencer  Holland 

Aug.  27,  1907.  Death  of  Mary  Coleridge. — I  knew 
her  so  little :  mainly,  through  you.  But  there  was  so 
much  that  was  intimate,  I  should  think,  and  distinct : 
with  a  quiet  tender  touch,  that  went  home.  Oh  dear ! 
Death  is  strangely  troubling  and  sad.  It  traverses,  it 
arrests,  it  defeats :  it  is  cruel :  it  is  aimless.  Yet  this 
cannot  be  its  last  word.  It  would  be  so  hopelessly  un- 
meaning, and  irrational.  And  so  we  come  round,  with  a 
swing,  to  the  great  deep  beliefs,  that  are  so  terribly  curtailed 
and  veiled,  and  yet  assure  us  that  they  have  got  somehow 
possession  of  the  true  secret  which  underlies  it  all.  It 
must  be  very  simple,  and  natural,  over  there. 


To  Mrs.  Henry  Powell 

May  30,  1915. — This  week  has  been  simply  terrible. 
The  only  strength  comes  from  taking  up  all  the  old  words 
of  the  Psalms  and  the  Prophets,  which  tell  of  the  wars  and 
the  terrors  of  unknown  days  long  ago,  and  then  giving 
oneself  to  take  one's  place  with  them,  in  their  ranks.  They 
knew  it  all.  They  went  down  into  the  deep  waters.  They 
suffered  just  these  pangs  of  our's.  And  their  record  is 
inside  the  book  of  God's  manifestation  :  it  is  part  of  His 
revelation.  His  light.  His  life,  came  to  us  by  this  road 
of  pain. 

They  took  their  places  in  the  heroic  succession.  So 
must  we.  Then  we  are,  and  not  till  then,  on  the  road  by 
which  the  Christ  arrived.  We  must  not  fail  them,  or  Him : 
we  must  fare  as  they  fared  :    we  must  take  their  cries  on 


296  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

our  lips.  We  stand  with  them  :  the  mystery  of  God  em- 
braces us  both.  Let  us  not  be  afraid.  Where  they  passed, 
we  too  can  pass. 


To  Mr.  Ivo  Ward 

Feb.  15,  1916.  During  the  last  illness  of  his  father, 
Mr.  Wilfrid  Ward. — Every  day  as  it  passes  is  one  more 
boon  to  thank  God  for,  and  has  its  added  preciousness 
because  of  the  peril  and  pain  by  which  it  has  been  won. 
"  Sufficient  unto  the  day  " — there  is  the  perpetual  refrain 
in  one's  ears  at  such  times.  We  can  shut  ourselves  up 
inside  the  day,  inside  the  hour,  inside  the  moment,  and 
make  it  eternal  by  refusing  to  go  outside  it,  and  by  deeming 
it  enough  to  find  God  within  its  limits.  We  can  shut 
ourselves  up  inside  it  with  Him  :  not  asking  why,  nor  how 
long,  nor  where,  nor  what  will  follow.  It  is  enough  that 
the  moment  itself  is  our  own,  and  can  be  lived  through 
and  is  our  possession,  and  carries  its  own  sufficing  grace 
with  it.  So  we  can  move  from  point  to  point,  master  of 
each  and  mastered  by  none.  For  God  is  always  sufficient 
for  the  evil  that  is,  and  will  always  be  too  strong  for  any 
evil  to  snatch  us  out  of  His  Hand. 


PART   IV 


FROM   191 1   TO   AUGUST,    I914 

He  was  sixty-four,  and  had  been  for  twenty-six  years 
in  London,  when  he  came  back  to  Oxford.  His  house  in 
Tom  Quad,  "  Dr.  Holland's  lodgings,"  was  next  the  Deanery, 
on  the  side  facing  the  Hall.  He  put  his  name  on  the  door  : 
it  was  the  first  brass-plate  in  the  Quad  :  he  was  warned  that 
he  might  be  rung-up  to  attend  a  confinement,  and  he  said 
that  Miss  Hancock  would  be  able  to  act  in  that  emergency. 
He  was  charmed  with  his  new  house ;  especially,  with  the 
garden  behind  it.     His  brother  writes  : — 

The  drawing-room  upstairs  was  a  splendid  lofty  room, 
with  long  windows  facing  both  the  Quad  and  his  garden  : 
a  fine  replica  of  the  portrait  of  Wolsey  in  the  Hall  was  over 
the  fire-place  :  there  was  the  piano  which  had  been  chosen 
for  Miss  Gifford  by  Otto  Goldschmidt :  and  comfortable 
settees :  and  tables  strewn  with  books.  In  the  dining- 
room  were  portraits  of  former  Regius  Professors  of  Divinity  ; 
which  belonged  to  the  house,  not  to  him.  The  study  was 
a  delightful  room  :  panelled  walls,  long  rows  of  books,  a 
big  writing-table  crowded  with  papers  and  with  photographs 
of  friends  and  of  god-children  ;  and  a  cottage  piano.  Beyond 
the  study,  was  his  prayer-room. 

But  the  garden  was  the  great  novelty  of  Scott's  last 
home.  He  had  never  before  shown  much  interest  in  flowers 
or  plants  :  but  his  garden  here  was  a  new  pleasure  for  him. 
He  watched  carefully  the  planting  of  some  rose-trees  from 
Longworth  :  the  creepers,  the  full  border  of  annuals,  the 
massive  old  fig-tree,  the  little  garden-strips  belonging  to 

299 


300  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

the  maids,  and  Miss  Hancock's  famous  chicken-run,  all 
were  objects  of  his  interest :  the  hens  had  their  nicknames, 
and  wonderful  histories  of  egg  and  chicken  triumphs. 
In  1 917,  he  writes,  "  You  will  see  the  wonderful  chickens. 
Eggs  pouring  in.  Three  broods  of  chicks,  expanding." 
And  in  1918,  "  Eight  eggs  from  nine  pullets.  An  avalanche." 
He  would  rush  visitors  straight  out  into  the  garden  on  their 
arrival :  and  here  on  the  long  white  seat  he  would  sit  and 
work  and  read,  as  he  never  could  in  London.  The  thrushes 
and  blackbirds  were  a  great  attraction  :  there  was  a  bird- 
bath  on  the  lawn :  a  supposed  mesalliance  between  a 
blackbird  and  a  thrush  was  much  commented  on,  but  the 
female  turned  out  to  be  only  a  rusty-brown  blackbird, 
and  the  scandal  was  averted  :  natural  history  was  not 
his  strong  point.  A  thrush  sang  beautifully  in  the  tree 
near  his  bedroom  window,  as  he  lay  dying  :  and  he  used 
to  call  our  attention  to  it. 


He  was  happy  enough,  up  to  August,  1914.  He  felt 
the  Cathedral  services,  after  St.  Paul's,  "  rather  limp  and 
worshipless " :  and  he  obtained  leave  for  a  week-day 
celebration  in  the  Latin  Chapel,  at  which  the  communicants 
came  up,  in  the  usual  way,  to  the  altar.  (At  the  chief 
service  in  Cathedral,  the  bread  and  wine  are  carried  round 
to  them.)  He  found  many  changes  in  Oxford ;  but  he 
was  prepared  for  that :  indeed,  he  had  helped  to  start 
them,  thirty  years  ago.  Nor  was  he  without  the  devotion 
of  younger  men :  though  he  pretended  that  he  had  only 
one  disciple.     Of  his  lectures.  Dr.  Strong  has  written  : — 

As  a  lecturer,  Dr.  Holland  did  not  attract  a  large  class  : 
he  lectmred  on  central  problems  of  theology,  rather  than 
subjects  which  are  useful  for  the  schools.  He  was  always 
interested  in  the  connexion  of  natural  and  revealed  religion  : 
in  the  historical  basis  of  the  faith,  and  its  relation  to  Christian 
doctrine  :  in  the  ethical  results  of  Christianity.  The  sub- 
jects of  lectures  announced  by  him  reflect  these  interests. 
It  is  in  this  part  of  his  work  that  the  war  has  caused  the  most 
serious    disturbance.     He    always    exercised    a    wonderful 


FROM   1911   TO  AUGUST,  1914  301 

attraction  upon  the  undergraduates  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  :  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  war,  one  can 
hardly  doubt  that  he  would  have  come  to  his  own,  and 
would  have  been  recognised  as  the  great  teacher  he  really 
was. 


As  Regius  Professor,  he  alone  decided  the  acceptance 
of  theses  for  the  divinity  degrees  :  he  exacted  a  very  high 
level  of  attainment,  and  thus  raised  the  standard  of  the 
degrees.  He  was  in  favour  of  instituting  a  diploma  in 
theology  :  this  was  the  subject  of  his  last  speech  in  Con- 
vocation. And  he  worked  hard  at  the  plan  to  provide 
training,  in  Oxford,  for  candidates  for  holy  orders.  But 
the  one  episode  which  aroused  public  attention  and  over- 
whelming opposition  (191 2-13),  was  his  proposal  to  throw 
open  the  divinity  degrees.  He  held  resolutely  to  it,  that 
"  a  University,  composed  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  without 
regard  to  any  fundamental  principles  of  faith  cannot,  of 
course,  undertake  to  act  on  behalf  of  any  one  particular 
religious  body,  or  give  a  preferential  right  in  its  degrees 
to  any  such  body,"  He  states  his  position,  in  April,  1912, 
in  Commonwealth : — 

The  Oxford  Professors  of  Theology,  together  with  the 
Dean  of  Christ  Church,  have  taken  the  initiative  in  proposing 
to  the  Hebdomadal  Council  that  the  degrees  in  divinity, 
and  the  examinerships  in  the  divinity  school,  shall  no  longer 
be  confined  to  priests  of  the  Church  of  England,  but  should 
be  laid  open  to  all  who  can  approve  themselves  to  the 
University  as  having  attained  to  a  certain  scientific  standard 
of  knowledge  in  this  special  department  of  human  expe- 
rience. This  is  the  only  ground  which  the  University,  as  such, 
can  take.  It  can  apply  an  intellectual  test,  without  any 
reference  to  belief.  The  Professors  and  Lecturers  will  give 
instruction  in  whatever  matters  that  belong  to  the  subject : 
and  they  can  do  this  in  full  and  free  regard  to  the  creed 
professed  by  the  body  to  which  they  individually  belong. 
The  Anglican  Chairs  will  expound  the  Anglican  position. 


302  HENRY   SCOTT  HOLLAND 

The  Roman,  the  Congregationalist,  the  Unitarian,  will 
declare,  their  own  reasoned  convictions.  The  Student  of 
Comparative  Religion  will  say  his  say.  Only,  the  examina- 
tion in  the  school  and  for  the  degree  will  have  but  one 
standard  to  apply  to  all  the  work  brought  before  it — the 
standard  of  intellectual  efficiency.  This  is  perfectly  practi- 
cable and  intelligible  and  reasonable.  It  will  clear  the  air 
of  all  subterfuges,  and  the  stage  of  all  vexatious  preferences. 
It  will  rescue  the  Church  of  England  from  the  odium  of 
special  privileges,  and  from  the  very  doubtful  position  of 
having  her  representative  exponents  certified  for  her  by  a 
body  that  has  ceased  to  be  qualified  for  the  responsibility. 
It  will  be  helpful  all  round  if  the  Church  itself  volunteers  to 
get  rid  of  the  limitations  which,  while  doing  it  no  honour, 
exclude  others  who  have,  on  the  intellectual  side,  as  good 
a  right  to  win  a  University  recognition  as  any  of  those 
whom  the  Church  can  produce. 


In  July,  1912,  he  emphasises  this  distinction  between 
the  teaching  of  divinity  and  the  examining  in  divinity. 
"  The  University  has  no  conceivable  right  to  step  in  at  any 
point,  and  determine  for  the  teacher  what  and  how  much 
of  his  creed  he  may  teach.  It  can  examine  the  subject, 
and  appraise  it.  It  can  judge  who  is  qualified  to  teach 
in  his  own  subject.  But  there  it  stops.  ...  If  the  teaching 
given  is  to  be  in  any  way  controlled  and  directed  by  the 
dogmatic  or  undogmatic  preferences  of  the  University,  all 
sincerity  and  all  vitaHty  will  die  out  of  it."  In  January, 
1913,  he  writes  hopefully :  "  The  policy  of  opening  the 
divinity  degrees,  which  was  initiated  by  the  Oxford  Pro- 
fessors, has  now  taken  some  real  effect  at  both  Universities. 
The  first  vote  has  been  passed  at  each  place  by  very  large 
majorities,  at  Cambridge  in  a  very  big  House  by  a  majority 
of  104,  at  Oxford  in  Congregation  by  a  vote  of  184  to  35." 
He  explains  carefully,  this  January,  and  again  in  April, 
that  the  Professors  and  Lecturers  are  to  be  absolutely  free, 
and  that  the  University  is  to  be  asked  simply  for  "  an 


FROM   191 1   TO  AUGUST,  1914  303 

intellectual  valuation  of  work  offered  to  its  scientific  judg- 
ment "  : — 

We  are  considering  the  conditions  under  which  a  learned 
University,  open  to  members  of  every  possible  creed,  can 
properly  handle  theological  questions.  It  cannot  omit 
them,  for,  by  so  doing,  it  would  cut  itself  off  from  the  highest 
and  most  vital  department  of  human  experience.  It  cannot 
take  up  a  dogmatic  position  without  abandoning  its  claim 
to  be  a  national  educational  institution.  It  certainly  can 
no  longer  be  asked  to  ignore  the  existence  of  all  theology 
that  is  not  produced  by  priests  of  the  Church  of  England. 
It  cannot  confine  itself  to  Christianity  without  undertaking 
to  define  what  Christianity  is.  It  cannot  adopt  the  un- 
denominational minimum  of  all  the  Christian  bodies  :  for 
then  it  would  leave  out  all  that  makes  Christianity  full, 
rich,  and  varied.  It  cannot  select  any  test  without  falsifying 
its  profession  of  being  open  to  all,  whatever  their  belief. 
What  then  is  it  to  do  ?  There  is  no  ground  left  for  it  but 
that  of  pure  knowledge  :  and  that  ground  is  clear,  and 
firm,  and  adequate  for  academic  purposes. 

There  was  an  outcry  against  this  weU-balanced  plan  : 
Convocation  was  summoned,  and  came  plunging  into  its 
intricacies,  on  April  29,  1913  ;  and  upset  it,  for  the  time 
being,  by  the  largest  majority  seen  in  Oxford  since  the 
days  of  the  Tractarians.  He  writes  to  Mrs.  Spencer 
HoUand : — 

I  had  got  to  accepting  the  blow,  before  it  came.  It 
was  inevitable  :  we  had  asked  too  much  of  the  outsiders, 
who  cannot  understand  the  situation  here.  But  I  did  not 
think  that  it  would  be  quite  so  dowmright  and  smashing. 
And  I  do  think  that  they  might  have  shown  some  faint 
trust  in  our  not  being  mere  weak  betrayers.  It  was  too 
stupid  of  them.  Our  whole  record  seemed  to  go  for  nothing. 
Their  timidity  shames  me  :  and  their  total  lack  of  generosity 
and  justice  towards  those  outside  the  Church,  in  their 
rejection  of  the  statute  about  the  examiners.  Up  here, 
that  hardly  needed  discussing.     Everybody  knew  that  it 


304  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

was  a  mere  matter  of  equity.  We  are  "  done  "  for  a  time. 
Now  what  I  dread  is  a  compromise — so  easy,  on  the  word 
"  Christian,"  I  mercifully  kept  very  well :  and  for  a  wonder 
my  nerves  did  not  "go,"  as  they  usually  do  now  under 
any  worry.  Alice  fed  me  up  on  mysterious  treacles.  I 
am  really  very  well  again. 

In  1 91 1,  he  pubhshed  "  Our  Neighbours,"  one  of  the 
Handbooks  of  the  Christian  Social  Union  ;  and  contributed 
to  a  series  of  essays  and  sermons  published  in  book-form, 
under  the  title  "  Miracles,"  in  reply  to  Mr.  J.  M.  Thompson's 
book,  "  Miracles  in  the  New  Testament." 

During  1912-1914,  he  shared  the  editorship  of  Common- 
wealth with  Mr.  Harold  Anson,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
helping  him.  In  March,  1912,  he  writes,  "  I  am  going  to 
make  a  big  proposal  to  you  :  and  that  is  that  you  should 
seriously  consider  whether  you  could  not  take  on  Common- 
wealth. I  do  not  think  I  can  possibly  go  on  doing  it  from 
here,  and  the  time  must  come  very  soon,  when  I  give  it 
up  ;  and  it  would  be  perfectly  splendid,  I  think,  if  you  could 
manage  it.  Now  don't  be  staggered  by  the  proposal,  but 
consider  it  kindly.  We  cannot  possibly  let  Commonwealth 
die  out.  I  think  it  would  be  a  betrayal.  It  has  got  a 
position  which  it  would  be  wrong  to  abandon."  In  Nov. 
1 914,  he  writes  of  some  difference  of  outlook  between  them  : 
"  Commonwealth  has  many  tendencies  which  are  far  re- 
moved from  the  old  position  :  but  these  have  all  come  to 
those  who  were  Tractarians  once.  It  has  tried  to  express 
the  opening-out  which  has  come  to  the  old  situation :  and 
this  has  been  its  motive  and  inspiration.  We  started  from 
a  point  back  there  :  and  I  have  always  felt  this  to  be  its 
office,  to  show  how  the  old  Sacramental  position  held  in  it 
these  new  possibilities." 

There  is  a  group  of  letters,  in  1911,  on  the  story  of  the 
healing  of  the  man  born  blind  (St.  John,  ch.  ix.) .     Mr.  C,  H,  S. 


FROM  1911  TO  AUGUST,  1914  305 

Matthews  had  sent  an  article  to  Commonwealth,  in  which 
the  literal  meaning  of  the  story  was  called  in  question. 

To  Mr.  Harold  Anson 

April  28. — Why,  oh  why,  should  he  select  that  particular 
miracle,  of  the  man  born  blind,  as  a  type  of  what  may  be 
left  uncertain  ?     Surely  it  is  the  very  best  story  in  the  world. 
I  cannot  conceive  anybody  really  reading  it  and  doubting 
it.     Every  detail  is  a  joy  and  an  assurance,  and  the  writer 
is  revelling  in  the  mere  detail  itself  as  a  human  document. 
It  is  the  cardinal  case  where  he  shews  his  passionate  love 
for  fact  and  history.     A  great  deal  of  the  story,  in  fact 
the  whole  of  it,  has  no  allegorical  meaning  of  any  sort.     It 
is  impossible  for  Loisy  to  discover  the  faintest  ghost  of  a 
spiritual  allusion.     It  is  fact  for  fact's  sake,  and  fact  in  its 
most  delightful  form.     He  never  requires  to  go  behind  the 
fact ;   he  finds  satisfaction  in  the  fact  as  such.     Just  read 
about  the  parents  and  all  that  they  say.     Where  are  you 
going  to  find  theology  in  that  ?     And  of  course,  as  to  the 
particular  miracle,  it  is  just  one  of  the  symptomatic  wonders 
which  we  all  believe  to  be  perfectly  possible  now.*    You 
are  never  going  to  strip  our  Lord's  life  of  the  healings. 
You  cannot  do  it  without  destroying  the  authority  of  the 
whole  story.    Just  consider  the  absolutely  authentic  saying 
of  the  Lord  asking  how  it  mattered  whether  He  said  "  Thy 
sins  are  forgiven  "  or  "  Arise  and  walk." 

I  think  the  line  Matthews  has  taken  is  perfectly  fatal, 
and  he  has  chosen  the  very  worst  instance  in  the  world 
in  the  story  of  the  blind  man.  I  would  like  him  to  re- 
consider this  particular  tale  and  the  suggestion  that  you 
can  lightly  drop  all  the  healings.  I  can  quite  understand 
cases  which  are  much  harder  and  where  it  is  well  to  tell 
people  that  they  need  not  worry. 

*  No  doctor  would  admit  that  the  miraculous  healing  of  a  case  of  con- 
genital blindness  could  be  regarded  as  a  "  symptomatic  "  wonder.  But  any 
doctor  might  well  admit  that  the  Pharisees  did  "  go  into  the  case."  The 
whole  feel  of  the  talk  is  hke  the  feel  of  question  and  answer  in  a  Hospital 
out-patient  department. 


3o6  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 


To  Mr.  C.  H.  S.  Matthews 

May  6. — If  this  incident  of  the  bhnd  man  really  did 
happen,  then  this  is  just  the  way  in  which  it  must  have 
been  told.  It  hangs  together  at  every  point :  and  if  this 
is  not  a  genuine  story,  then  I  think  we  have  no  test  by 
which  to  say  what  is.  Just  consider  the  psychology  of  the 
blind  man  himself,  how  he  is  driven  on  from  point  to  point 
by  the  opposition  ;  and  then  the  fun  of  the  thing,  as  the 
opposition  come  round  and  round  time  after  time  to  the 
same  thing,  and  ask  him  to  say  again  what  had  happened. 
This  is  just  what  we  always  do  when  we  are  in  difficulties. 
And  he  is  driven  to  say,  "  I  told  you  before  :  if  you  did  not 
believe  me  then,  what  is  the  good  of  telling  you  again  ?  " 
And  the  funk  of  the  parents,  and  the  way  they  shove  it 
off,  etc.,  etc.  To  me  it  is  extraordinarily  convincing  as  a 
document. 


In  1913,  in  a  series  of  essays  on  "  Property,  its  Duties 
and  Rights,"  edited  with  an  introduction  by  Bishop  Gore, 
he  published  an  essay  on  "  Property  and  Personality."  It 
is  a  notable  example  of  his  use  of  philosophy  in 
economics  : — 

Personality  lies  in  the  relation  of  person  to  person.  A 
personality  is  what  it  is  only  by  virtue  of  its  power  to 
transcend  itself  and  to  enter  into  the  life  of  another.  It 
lives  by  interpenetration,  by  intercourse,  by  communion. 
Its  power  of  life  is  love.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  solitary, 
isolated  person.  A  self-contained  personality  is  a  contra- 
diction in  terms.  What  we  mean  by  personality  is  a  capacity 
for  intercourse,  a  capacity  for  retaining  self-identity  by 
and  through  identification  with  others — a  capacity  for 
friendship,  for  communion,  for  fellowship.  Hence  the 
true  logic  of  personality  compels  us  to  discover  the  man's 
personal  worth  in  the  inherent  necessity  of  a  society  in  which 
it  is  realized.  Society  is,  simply,  the  expression  of  the 
social  inter-communion  of  spirit  with  spirit  which  consti- 
tutes what  we  mean  by  personality.  Fellowship  and 
Individuality  are  correlative  terms. 


FROM  1911  TO  AUGUST,  1914  307 

.  .  .  And  if  the  individual  is  to  identify  his  personaY 
claim  with  the  claim  of  the  fellowship,  he  must  have  the 
assurance  that  the  fellowship  is  not  arbitrary  or  absolute 
in  the  demands  that  it  makes  upon  him.  And  this  assurance 
he  can  only  have  if  the  exercise  of  its  ownership  by  the 
fellowship,  within  which  his  own  right  of  ownership  is 
exercised,  be  itself  the  expression  of  that  absolute  owner- 
ship which  is  the  sole  prerogative  of  the  God  Who  made  the 
earth  and  all  that  is  in  it.  Back  to  God  all  rights  run. 
Back  in  Him,  the  ultimate  Creator,  producing  and  sustaining 
and  justifying  every  capacity  and  energy  that  His  will 
has  set  in  action,  all  ownership  stands.  All  claims  are 
made  by  Him,  through  Him,  to  Him.  His  righteousness  is 
the  bond  of  all  human  fellowship.  And  this  is  so,  just 
because  property  in  outward  goods  is  but  the  outcome  of 
personality ;  and  all  human  personality  is  the  issue  and 
image  of  the  personality  of  God.  In  the  Divine  Fellowship 
in  which  God  realizes  Himself,  lies  the  source  and  justifica- 
tion of  every  fellowship  into  which  man  can  enter.  Man's 
authority  to  say  of  anything  "  That  is  mine  "  rests,  finally, 
on  his  power  to  say  "  I  am  God's." 

In  1 914,  there  are  two  letters  to  Dr.  Talbot ;  one  a 
birthday  letter,  the  other  on  Arthur  Holland's  sudden 
death  : — 

Feb.  19. — Is  it  really  true  that  you  are  seventy  ?  It 
is  simply  ludicrous.  I  remember  when  you  were  seventy. 
It  was  about  40  years  ago.  Since  then,  you  have  been 
steadily  taking  off  decades  :  every  year  has  found  you 
younger  than  the  last.  Taking  40  years  from  70,  this  would 
make  you  just  20  now.  And  I  think  that  is  just  about  right. 
That  is  what  it  strikes  me  to-day,  as  just  representing  your 
temper  and  vitality.  It  is  a  delicious  retrogression  to  watch 
— a  glorious  Recessional,  full  of  good  cheer,  always  recoiling 
for  a  better  leap  into  futurity. 

Nov.  13. — He  had  hurried  to  a  Board  meeting ;  and 
had  strained  his  heart.  It  was  merciful  that  the  end  should 
come  that  way.  He  knew  his  risks,  and  had  made  all 
ready.  He  was  the  most  unselfish  creature  in  all  the  world. 
He  was  made  to  dedicate  himself  to  some  one  whom  he 
loved  :  he  could  not  live  except  in  this  mood.     And  why  it 


3o8  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

was  not  a  wife  and  child,  God  knows  !  We  had  such  a 
specially  happy  holiday  together  this  August.  Earth  is 
emptying  fast.* 

His  holidays,  in  these  later  years,  were  mostly  with 
his  brothers  and  Mrs.  Spencer  Holland,  in  some  quiet  corner 
of  England  :  he  writes  of  the  Bowling  Green  Inn  at  Ludlow, 
"  white  and  delicate  like  the  dream  of  a  Christmas  card  "  : 
and  of  Caerdem,  near  Barmouth — "  the  loveliness  of  this 
place,  hung-up  like  a  dream  in  the  most  beautiful  corner 
of  North  Wales,  with  the  sea  creeping  over  the  sands 
under  the  wooded  hills  "  :  and  of  Abinger  Hatch — "  this 
place  is  far  lovelier  than  any  dream,  and  runs  Paradise  hard. 
Just  perfect.  And  people  leave  it  to  go  to  Switzerland. 
So  I  am  credibly  informed.     Well,  I  never  !  " 

On  these  holidays,  he  delighted  in  motoring :  he  had 
at  last  left  off  bicycling,  nor  could  he  take  long  walks. 
His  brother  remembers,  that  "  Writing  and  reading  occupied 
the  mornings,  and  for  this  my  wife  became  a  constant 
resource ;  she  read  aloud  the  heavier  books  engaging  his 
attention  :  my  part  was  reserved  for  the  evening  readings 
of  novels  or  biographies,  in  which  my  brother  Arthur 
gallantly  assisted.  Places  of  interest  were  visited :  but 
Scott  was  very  rapid  in  sight-seeing  ;  the  points  of  churches 

*  His  brother's  body  was  cremated :  and  he  wrote  a  prayer,  which 
was  said  at  the  burial  of  the  ashes :  "  Almighty  and  most  merciful  God, 
Who  hast  made  us  out  of  the  dust,  that  we  may  live  in  the  Spirit :  Whose 
love  is  a  consuming  fire,  to  cleanse  and  purify :  we  commend  to  Thy 
keeping  the  soul  of  Thy  servant  Arthur,  that  he  may  abide  in  Thy  pardon 
and  peace.  And  here  we  lay,  in  the  kindly  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to 
dust,  all  that  is  yet  left  in  our  hands  of  the  body  in  which  he  showed  himself 
alive,  to  our  love  and  deUght.  Grant,  O  dear  Lord,  that  in  the  day  of 
Thy  coming,  he  may  be  reclothed  in  spiritual  vesture :  so  that  once  agam 
we  may  know  him  as  of  old,  and  may  see  his  face,  and  hear  his  voice  and 
touch  his  hand  :  that  he  may  be  to  us  all  that  he  has  ever  been  :  only 
changed  and  hallowed  by  Thy  transfiguring  power :  in  the  one  Body, 
by  the  one  Spirit ;  that,  together,  we  may  praise  Thy  Holy  Name  for 
ever  and  ever.     Through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Redeemer  and  our  King." 


FROM   191 1  TO  AUGUST,  1914  309 

were  quickly  grasped,  and  monuments  and  windows  quickly 
disposed  of.  At  Stratford-on-Avon,  he  raced  through 
Shakespeare's  House  far  in  advance  of  the  custodian  and 
his  party,  and  we  found  him  in  the  motor,  impatient  to  be 
off  and  shouting  *  Arpon,  Arpon,'  his  name  for  Arthur, 
who  was  laboriously  studying  every  relic.  Scott  disliked 
castles  and  their  dungeons  and  blackholes  ;  and  at  Ludlow, 
only  the  mediaeval  house  in  the  castle-yard  engaged  his 
attention." 

Especially,  he  was  fond  of  Crossways,  the  Spencer 
Hollands'  house  on  Berkhamsted  Common,  which  Paul 
Waterhouse  built  for  them.  He  helped  to  choose  the  site, 
and  buried  a  penny  where  the  first  earth  was  turned,  and 
blessed  the  site  then  and  there  ;  and  wrote,  before  his 
first  visit,  "  Are  you  in  it  ?  Is  it  true  ?  God  bless  you 
both  in  it.  Blessings  on  your  going-out  and  your  coming-in. 
Blessings  on  doorposts  and  hearth.  Blessings  on  roof  and 
lintel.  Blessings  on  the  days  and  on  the  nights  in  it." 
He  preferred  its  Georgian  style  to  the  Early  English  style  : 
"  Your's  is  real,  right,  more  true  to  our  present  nature, 
more  entirely  homelike,  more  natural.  It  is  a  better  thing. 
And  it  has  a  singular  power  in  it,  which  belongs  to  the  steady 
shapely  residential  look  of  it.  It  is  so  good,  so  right- 
minded,  so  satisfying.  Every  year,  it  will  become  more 
loveable,  as  it  lays  itself  alongside  to  Nature,  and  takes 
on  her  spirit  of  growth."  Besides,  Mrs.  Holland  gave 
him  good  music  :  as  he  wrote  after  a  stay  there,  "  The 
enrichment  of  the  music,  flowing  through  it  all,  fed  the 
bones." 

Musicians  have  said  that  his  listening  inspired  them. 
His  love  of  music  is  in  his  letters,  his  notes  in  Commonwealth, 
his  books  :  for  instance,  his  sermon  on  "  The  Spirit  and  its 
Interpretation "  {Logic  and  Life),  and  his  description  of 
Elgar's    Gerontius,    in    "  The    Dignity   of   Death "    {Vital 


310  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

Values).  Among  his  work  for  Church  music,*  he  was  part- 
editor  of  the  EngUsh  Hymnal  (1906)  and  of  the  New 
Cathedral  Psalter  (1908)  ;  and  he  introduced,  at  St.  Paul's, 
the  use  of  Brahms'  Requiem.  In  "  Appreciations,"  Miss 
Gregory  writes — 

Ahke  at  home  and  in  the  Cathedral,  Canon  Holland  had 
no  greater  delight  and  refreshment  than  music.  If  he  could 
not  get  it  made  for  him  in  his  house  by  a  friend,  a  neighbour, 
a  choir-boy,  a  secretary,  he  would  make  it  for  himself : 
and  on  summer  evenings,  with  the  windows  open,  strains 
from  the  little  red-bound  volumes  he  entitled  "The  Simple- 
minded  Organist  "  would  float  through  Amen  Court.  The 
invitation.  Come  to  a  concert,  found  an  instant  response.  .  .  . 
Little  notes  of  congratulation  to  all  concerned  would  run 
round  after  a  newly  adapted  Palestrina  Mass,  or  a  specially 
glorious  Passion-music.  His  joy  in  an  anthem  would  be 
flashed  across  stalls  and  choir  to  a  sympathiser.  "  The 
collects  for  the  Queen  and  Royal  Family,"  he  said,  "  are 
the  bannisters  whereby  you  slide  back  to  earth  in  time  to 
pray  for  the  clergy." 

He  passionately  enjoyed  the  good  things  of  art ;  but 
he  never  gushed  or  flattered  :  as  Philip  Waggett  says  of 
him,  "  there  was  a  certain  ruthless  incorruptibility  of 
judgment."  He  would  go  quickly  through  a  picture-gallery, 
rush  through  a  book,  and  be  "  ecstatic  "  over  a  concert ; 
but  he  would  not  fail  to  detect  anj^hing  second-rate  or 
insincere.  He  got  keen  delight  from  all  that  was  best  in 
the  art  of  his  own  time,  nor  was  he  frightened  of  "  art  for 
art's  sake  "  ;  but  he  laughed  at  modernity  for  modernity's 
sake  :  he  had  lived  in  the  company  of  the  Immortals,  and 
he  did  not  admire  the  strange  gods  that  were  coming  into 

*  There  is  a  letter,  in  1907,  to  Mr.  Martin  Shaw,  "  I  was  much  struck 
by  the  strength  and  decision  of  your  Te  Deum.  It  seemed  to  be  framed 
exactly  on  the  hnes  of  true  ecclesiastical  music ;  and  to  possess  dignity, 
massiveness,  and  reserve.  Everything  about  it  was  wholesome  and 
manly,  and  there  were  no  fanciful  or  artificial  episodes." 


FROM  1911  TO  AUGUST,  1914  311 

vogue  toward  the  end  of  his  life.  In  poetry  and  music, 
at  the  last,  he  rested  in  Wordsworth  and  Mozart.  So  far 
back  as  1869,  he  had  said  of  Don  Giovanni,  "  Such  melody 
has  never  been  written  since,  or  ever  will  be  "  :  and  on  his 
last  Christmas  Day,  1917,  he  gave  to  Mrs.  Spencer  Holland 
the  Life  of  Mozart,  by  Holmes,  with  this  inscription — 
"  Music  and  magic  in  the  soul.  That  is  Mozart.  That  is 
Home.  That  is  Memory.  That  is  Love.  And  all  this  has 
come  to  me  through  Crossways." 

Other  inscriptions,  in  books  that  he  gave  her,  may  be 
noted  here.  In  Paracelsus,  "  For  Alice,  to  lighten  the  dark 
days  with  the  news  of  one  who  aspires  and  attains."  In 
Aucassin  and  Nicolette,  "  Far  from  bed  and  from  bacilli, 
these  two  children  of  romance  tottered  out  on  their  adventure 
of  love  long  ago.  We  can  do  just  as  well,  in  spite  of  all 
the  beds  and  bacilli."  In  a  rather  over-illustrated  edition 
of  The  Blessed  Damozel,  "  You  can  cut  out  the  pictures, 
and  leave  the  poem  better.  So  let  youth's  pictures  go,  and 
the  poem  of  life  will  but  deepen."  Last  of  all,  to  Spencer 
Holland,  in  a  Life  of  Dante,  "  In  grateful  thanks  for  patient 
loyalty  to  the  heart  of  brotherhood,  kept  alive  and  warm 
in  a  stricken  Earth.     Xmas,  1917." 


II 

FROM  AUGUST,  I914  TO  MARCH,  I918 

To  Laurence  Stratford 

Aug.  26,  1914. — War  is  Hell.  We  cling  to  that,  whatever 
else  comes  out  of  it.  Christ  can  harrow  Hell.  But  it  is 
Hell  that  He  harrows.  I  have  said  what  I  have  to  say  in 
'  Commonwealth.'  You  will  see  how  we  agree.  Only  I  will 
not  allow  that  all  the  weary  idiots  have  been  right.  My  one 
comfort  now  is  to  remember  that  I  never  insisted  on  War 
as  inevitable,  never  shouted  Armaments,  never  saw  the 
Kaiser  as  the  one  unspeakable  devil.  It  is  just  this  which 
I  denounce  in  the  Germans.  By  talking  like  this,  they 
have  made  war  inevitable.  Our  folk  who  did  it  are  open 
to  the  same  damning  charge.  The  White  Paper  shows 
how  easily  this  war  could  have  been  avoided.  It  was 
within  an  ace  of  being  avoided.  Only,  the  ruthless  and 
sudden  bolt  from  the  blue  of  the  German  Kaiser  did  it. 
And  the  wicked  Austria  :  the  wickedest  of  all.  It  could 
have  been  saved.  Grey  all  but  saved  it.  It  was  not  in- 
evitable. This  is  my  strong  comfort.  I  never  helped  to 
make  it  inevitable.     They  did. 

To  Neville  Talbot 

Sept.  6. — We  spend  the  days  in  sickening  fears  :  and 
still  the  authorities  keep  everything  back,  and  tell  us  nothing. 
It  is  a  most  stupid  and  cruel  policy.  We  are  ready  to  hold 
on  like  grim  death.  We  must  secure  a  Torres  Vedras,  and 
clutch,  and  never  loosen  our  grip.  If  only  the  French 
had  had  a  firmer  strategy.  If  it  had  not  been  for  our  left 
wing,    they   would    have   crumpled   up.     Oh   dear!   how 

312 


FROM  AUGUST.  1914  TO  MARCH,  1918       313 

ghastly  it  is.  Only,  every  day  reveals  the  black  blind 
horror  of  Prussianism.  It  is  the  very  devil.  It  has  to  be 
fought :  and  killed.  It  is  the  last  word  in  iniquity.  I 
could  not  have  believed  that  man  could  be  so  diabolical. 


To  Frank  Thome  * 

Sept.  10. — Don't  say  there  is  no  soul  in  fighting.  Do 
you  see  how  much  the  individual  intelligence  and  self- 
control  have  enabled  us  to  do  so  gloriously  in  open  order  ? 
Spirit  wins.  And  the  character  built-up  in  Peace  is  the  one 
that  counts  in  War.  The  paradox  of  Christianity  and  War 
falls  within  Christ  Himself.  He  is  dumb  before  his  shearers  : 
yet  a  sharp  sword  goes  out  of  His  mouth.  He  yields  :  yet 
he  judges.  On  His  cross  of  surrender,  he  strips  powers 
and  principalities.  He  binds  the  strong  man,  and  strips 
him  of  his  armour.  He  rides  out  conquering  and  to 
conquer. 

War  is  right  when  it  is  fought  on  behalf  of  Peace — to 
rescue    the    honour    of    Christian    Peace — without    which 

*  Mr.  Frank  Thome  was  reading  for  ids  Final  Schools  when  the  War 
came  and  he  enlisted.  He  writes  of  Dr.  Holland,  "  There  he  was,  in  the 
corner  of  Tom,  always  the  same,  always  ready  to  receive  us  and  laugh  with 
us  if  we  were  happy,  or  to  inspire  us  afresh.  I  have  countless  memories 
of  hilarious  lunches  with  him,  when  in  the  eagerness  of  talking  he  would 
quite  forget  to  carve,  or  make  a  sudden  dart  at  quite  the  wrong  end  of  the 
beast.  And  better  still,  there  were  quiet  dinners  with  him  alone,  and 
long  evenings  in  the  hbrary  afterwards,  with  music  and  talk  and  poetry 
read  aloud — particularly  T.  E.  Brown,  in  whom  he  deUghted — and,  at 
the  end,  a  few  short  prayers  in  his  Uttle  oratory.  ...  I  remember  going 
once  to  a  Bach  Choir  festival  with  him,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  a  triumphant 
chorale  he,  quite  carried  away,  himself  burst  out  into  song,  to  the  amazed 
amusement  of  all  near  him.  .  .  .  But  of  all  memories  of  him,  those  con- 
nected with  the  Cathedral  are  the  dearest.  The  Tuesday  celebrations 
in  the  Latin  Chapel  (which  he  started  when  he  came) — at  which  he  made 
the  words  live  as  no  one  else  did,  and  after  the  consecration  stood  with 
his  arms  flung  out  above  his  head  or  wide  from  the  shoulder,  carrying  us 
up  in  the  strength  of  his  spirit — were  a  consummation  of  all  that  he  was  to 
us."  Mr.  Thorne  remembers  an  evening  in  August  or  September,  1914  : 
"  After  dinner,  we  were  talking  of  Germany  and  all  that  she  had  done 
that  made  it  so  difficult  to  do  anything  but  hate  her  and  her  people  for 
ever.  Suddenly  he  said,  '  Do  you  want  to  love  the  Germans  ?  '  I  said 
yes,  and  he  rushed  ofi  to  his  piano,  and  began  to  play  the  tenderest  German 
folk-songs,  crooning  them  over  the  while,  in  the  way  he  had,  his  face  alight 
with  joy — you  know  how  music  carried  him  up  to  heaven." 


314  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

honour  it  would  be  no  Peace  of  Christ.  I  keep  singing 
"  I  could  not  love  thee,  dear,  so  much,  loved  I  not  honour 
more "...  Be  comforted,  dearest  child.  You  are  in 
Him.    My  whole  heart  is  crying  after  you. 


To  Neville  Talbot 

Nov.  25. — Urquhart  was  all  wrong.  This  surrender  of 
the  vindication  of  God's  Righteousness  here  on  earth  is 
desperate.  We  are  eschatologists.  God  must  win.  We 
cannot  have  anything  less.  And  it  would  be  horrid  to  take 
this  life  as  merely  measured  by  its  usefulness  for  our  own 
personal  soul's  good.  This  is  sheer  individualism.  /  am 
made  the  centre  :  and  can  adapt  all  this  world-anguish  to 
my  own  spiritual  development.  Kings  and  nations  may 
welter  in  blood  :  but  I  have  got  profit  for  my  own  soul 
out  of  it :  and  that  will  justify  it.  That  won't  do,  will  it  ? 
We  have  got  to  go  one  better  than  the  Jew.  We  can  afford 
to  suffer  and  fail.  But  we  do  not  abandon  his  great  un- 
conquerable demand  that  God's  good  Name  shall  verify 
itself  here  and  now.  This  earth  is  to  be  redeemed.  We 
must  cling  to  this. 

Dec.  13. — I  can  understand  your  wails  from  the  trenches, 
as  you  feel  the  frightful  stress.  But  you  must  not  think 
so  hardly  of  the  workers  at  home.  The  men  are  still  pouring 
in,  30,000  a  week  :  even  from  the  centres  where  trade  is 
rising  and  even  roaring.  Manchester  is  giving  them  in 
swarms,  where  work  is  to  be  had  in  good  plenty.  In  the 
Durham  Pits,  pits  are  closing  down,  for  lack  of  men  gone 
to  the  war  :  though  prices  run  high.  And  the  Wales  tin- 
plate  trade  is  trying  in  vain  to  keep  men  from  joining  by 
bribes  of  wages  at  6,  8,  and  even  ;^io  a  week.  We  have 
all  that  we  can  house,  feed,  or  drill.  They  are  drihing 
splendidly  :  they  are  of  good  grit :  they  are  coming  fast 
to  the  scratch  :  they  will  be^  ready  for  the  times  given 
them  by  Kitchener.  .  .  .  We  must  remember  how  hard  a 
venture  it  is  for  the  artisan  :  into  whom  it  has  been  burned, 
by  many  a  bitter  experience,  that  to  join  the  army  is  to 
wreck  himself  for  the  labour  market,  into  which  it  is  so 
difficult  for  him  to  recover  his  footing.  The  old  soldier 
too  often  has  found  himself  a  displaced  outcast. 


\ 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  MARCH,  1918      315 

1915 

To  Frank  Thome 

March  14. — Don't  be  troubled  about  the  spiritual  aloof- 
ness. It  is  all  right.  You  are  greatly  pre-occupied.  You 
have  to  hold  on  faithfully  and  loyally  :  and  not  ask  why  and 
when  you  feel,  and  why  and  when  you  don't  feel.  There 
are  times  and  times  :  they  come  and  go  :  they  are  beyond 
our  bidding  or  control.  Only  our  will  is  our  own,  and  our 
loyalty  in  adherence  to  the  living  Christ.  God  will  bless 
you  with  his  own  blessing  in  His  own  way  and  time,  dear. 
.  .  .  You  will  laugh,  if  you  hear  that  I  am  going  across 
to  Havre  to  talk  to  Tommies  in  Easter  week.  I  half  think 
I  shall.  But  I  am  a  poor  old  dotty  crock — and  it  may  be 
absurd  of  me  to  think  that  I  can  do  it. 

He  had  only  a  week  in  France :  doubtless  his  friends 
were  anxious  over  his  health,  and  would  not  plan  for  him  to 
stay  longer.  He  set  himself  to  tell  men  that  we  at  home 
were  indeed  thinking  of  them  and  caring  for  them.  His 
letters  to  Miss  Alice  Hancock  were  just  to  assure  her  that  all 
was  going  well  with  him  : — 

Boncourt,  Monday  night. — It  is  8.30,  and  I  have  drunk 
small  beer  and  eaten  an  omelette.  We  get  to  Rouen  at 
midnight  !  Think  of  that  !  The  passage  was  splendid — 
with  a  bubbling  sea,  and  cold  wind,  but  all  well.  Destroyers 
curled  round  us.  I  got  out  safety  waistcoat  :  but  it  is  too 
silly :  and  I  shall  give  it  away.  The  inventor  presented 
it.     Goodbye.     Be  happy. 

Havre,  Thursday. — Here  at  last,  7.30  last  night.  Have 
got  nice  rooms  :  and  an  airy  street :  quite  decent  food : 
civil  gushing  woman  to  wait,  etc.  I  have  settled  up  my 
days  of  work  here,  just  each  evening,  in  varying  huts  :  a 
good  deal  of  talking.  I  am  quite  weU  in  spite  of  every 
mischance  on  the  journey.  We  got  to  Rouen  at  just  past 
midnight :  walked  in  pouring  rain  to  a  very  poor  hotel : 
wretched  rooms  :  however,  no  fleas  :  saw  the  glories  of 
Rouen.  .  .  .  Now  I  have  come  all  the  way,  I  must  make 
it  worth  while.     Be  quite  happy  over  me.     Friday. — Did 


3i6  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

the  first  hut  last  night.  I  am  keeping  very  well :  the  sea- 
air  is  splendid  :  we  do  capitally  at  the  lodgings,  so  you  need 
not  fret :   food  and  beds  quite  right. 

Base  Camp,  Harfle^ir.  Sunday. — I  came  off  at  7.30  to 
celebrate  in  Camp  :  and  two  Parade  sermons  at  9.30  and 
10.30  :  and  now  sit  resting  and  writing  in  this  nice  hut, 
with  people  infinitely  kind  to  me.  I  am  waiting  for  an 
evening  address  in  a  hut  at  7,  before  being  whirled  back 
in  motor  to  Havre.  I  think  I  must  risk  the  straight  passage 
home  :  it  is  far  the  easiest  journey  :  the  railways  are  quite 
awful.  This  is  perfectly  easy,  if  only  the  weather  holds  : 
it  is  perfect  now :  with  exquisite  sun  in  this  beautiful 
valley,  in  the  thick  of  an  enormous  Camp.  You  never 
saw  anything  like  it.  Very  finely  organised  :  and  Tommies 
in  thousands,  quite  divine.  I  am  keeping  splendidly  well : 
and  survive  cold  motor  rides  over  rolling  stones  at  night, 
after  hot  talks.  So  all  is  right.  Keep  very  well :  don't 
worry  over  the  house. 

In  July,  "  A  Bundle  of  Memories "  was  published. 
He  writes  to  Mrs.  Talbot,  July  9  : — 

I  hardly  thought  that  I  should  be  brought  to  book  or 
bed  again,  and  have  yet  another  little  pledge  to  send  to 
your  faithful  and  pardoning  welcome.  But  the  thing  had 
to  be  born,  after  all.  It  could  not  help  itself.  It  is  "  the 
Gilbert  "  of  the  flock.  And  so,  with  Gilbert  in  our  heart,  it 
may  go  its  way  to  you,  just  to  pray  a  blessing  on  your  own 
latter-day  child.  It  is  something  to  be  able  to  give  you 
anything  which  may  witness  to  my  loyal  affection  for  you 
in  this  your  hour  of  stress.  We  have  had  so  many  joy- 
days  to  remember  together.  Now,  under  the  cloud,  we  may 
feel,  with  an  even  deeper  sense,  the  bonds  that  bind,  and 
the  memories  that  can  never  die.  This  poor  Bundle  is 
charged  with  sad  irony,  because  it  is  trying  so  hard  to  be 
happy.  But  you  wiU  forgive  it  its  quips  and  quirks,  if  it, 
also,  speaks  to  you  of  the  love  that,  now,  when  sorrow 
presses,  lays  itself  down  at  your  feet. 

On  July  26,  he  writes  to  NeviUe  Talbot,  who  had  urged 
him  to  write  an  account  of  his  life,  especially  of- his  early 
Oxford  life  : — 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  MARCH,  1918      317 

How  nobly  you  play  up  to  me,  my  own  and  only  disciple. 
It  is  so  comforting  and  strengthening.  But  I  could  not 
do  what  you  want  yet  awhile.  I  must  think.  It  was  all 
very  ordinary,  I  fancy :  with  some  very  fortunate  arrests 
when  I  was  declining  down  a  wrong  road.  Anyhow,  if  I 
never  do  it,  it  is  beautiful  of  you  to  want  it  done.  I  am 
quaking  and  praying  over  Gilbert  in  his  crater.  .  .  .  Was 
not  the  end  of  the  strike  merciful  ?  Could  anything  have 
shown  up  the  limitations  of  compulsion  more  absolutely  ? 
The  Government  is  terribly  afraid  of  acting  on  the  coal 
prices  and  the  profits.  Yet  everything  turns  on  this.  I  am 
sending  you  the  most  delicious  volume  of  Chesterton.  At 
aU  dark  hours,  you  can  read  the  lyric  on  F.  E.  Smith,  and 
be  cheered  :  then,  the  Nativity  hymns  are  gorgeous,  "  The 
House  of  Christmas  "  :  and  the  Wise  Men  who  are  so 
afraid  they  will  miss  the  way  because  it  is  so  plain  :  and 
the  Vigil  of  Earth — all  glorious.  I  saw  him  last  week,  so 
far  better  than  he  has  ever  been. 


To  Frank  Thome 

Sept.  23. — Here,  we  poor  troubled  ghosts  stiU  haunt 
the  ancient  shades,  creeping  moodily  round  forlorn  courts, 
and  longing  for  a  whoop  in  Peck,  or  a  scurry  of  running 
feet  round  Tom  at  night.  .  .  .  There  is  a  wonderful  poem 
in  the  Spectator  for  Sept.  11,  which  I  must  get  for  you, 
'  Christ  in  Flanders.'  If  only  we  can  pull  off  the  dreadful 
Dardanelles  !  I  lie  in  bed  quaking  over  it.  Then  things 
might  begin  to  end.  Come  back  alive,  dear  child,  to  my 
heart. 

Dec.  5. — It  was  delicious  to  hear  that  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  did  not  disappoint  you,  but  that  it  did  its  plain  duty, 
and  was  actually  blue.  It  was  noble  of  it  to  inspire  you 
so  generously  :  and  it  must  have  done  its  very  best  to  atone 
for  the  War  which  enabled  you  to  see  it.  Did  you  run 
under  Crete  or  any  of  those  long  brown  sun-burnt  Isla  nds  ? 
so  bare,  yet  so  responsive  to  sunlight,  clothing  themselves 
in  every  delicate  colour,  and  lifting  fabulous  cliffs  high  in 
air.  They  turn  so  cold  and  grey  when  the  sun  is  o  ff :  as 
the  colour  comes  again,  it  is  just  like  the  transfiguration  of 
a  smile  on  a  worn  face.  Where  are  you  ?  How  I  Jong  to 
know.     There  are  such  possibilities  :   and  such  risks  :    and 


3i8  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

such  adventures  :  and  such  surprises.  Here,  we  plod  on 
in  rain.  Everybody  is  gone  to  something.  We  old  crocks 
carry  on  oiu  pretence.  The  Dean  is  amazingly  effective. 
The  choir  is  shrinking  visibly  before  our  eyes  :  all  the  basses 
are  in  khaki :  soon,  we  shall  stop  singing.  Keep  what  you 
are,  dear  boy,  my  son.  My  heart  travels  with  you,  my 
prayers  follow  after  you.  Come  back,  if  you  can.  Goodbye. 
May  Christ  seal  you  His. 

Jan.  4,  1916. — The  Dean  reports  you  to  be  in  sight  of 
the  Home  of  the  Gods.  So  we  conclude  Salonika.  All 
the  Islands  are  round  you.  They  go  in  and  out :  and  lose 
all  their  souls  in  a  grey  nothingness  :  and  then  the  sun  is 
out  and  they  are  shining  like  living  creatures — topaz  and 
jacinth  and  amethyst.  Never  were  there  such  swift  incar- 
nations. But  you — are  you  booted  and  spurred  ?  and 
muddy  and  hoarse  ?  Can  you  combine  Tommy  and  the 
Gods  of  Olympus  ?  I  long  to  know.  .  .  .  We  are  sound 
at  home — for  all  that  they  may  say.  And  the  workers 
are  absolutely  resolute  on  the  main  policy  of  the  War. 
Don't  believe  anything  else.  There  is  a  lovely  little  volume 
of  Morris'  Socialist  poems  out :  and  Robert  Bridges' 
Anthology  is  a  fine  appeal.  Keep  in  Christ,  dearest  lad, 
wherever  you  are. 


1916 

To  J.  W.  Williams,  Bishop  of  KaffraHa 

June  5. — We  are  just  recovering  from  the  agonies  of 
last  Saturday,  when  the  lirst  news  of  the  awful  losses  at 
sea  fell  upon  us.  Personally,  we  have  lost  the  most  noble 
fellow  in  Christ  Church,  our  Senior  Censor,  a  glorious  and 
heroic  figure,  Charles  Fisher,  our  pride  and  joy  and  power.* 
...  At  home,  we  hold  together  well :  and  Labour  is  play- 
ing up  nobly.     It  is  really  exhausting  itself  in  the  terrible 

*  To  another  friend  :  "I  always  fell  under  the  sway  of  his  splendid 
presence.  And  he  looked  as  if  there  was  so  much  to  come.  That  Admiral's 
face  of  his  found  its  way  to  the  right  place,  and  he  was  plajnng  his  part 
in  the  very  central  action  of  the  ship,  to  the  last  moment,  in  the  conning 
tower,  by  the  side  of  a  captain  whom  he  adored.  He  has  ended  gloriously. 
Only,  we  are  thinned  down,  and  cheapened,  and  robbed  of  our  hght  and 
joy." 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  MARCH.  1918       319 

strain  of  work,  night  and  day.  Our  chaplain,  Parker, 
who  has  been  in  Egypt  against  the  Senussi,  gives  a  splendid 
account  of  your  South  Africans.  They  are  the  best  colonial 
soldien  of  all :  and  so  far  better  behaved  and  under  control 
than  the  Australians.  They  made  a  great  impression  in 
Egypt,  by  this  contrast. 


During  July,  he  was  at  Comrie,  near  Crieff,  in  Perthshire : 
he  took  duty  at  the  church,  and  preached  twice  every 
Sunday  :  the  little  church  had  not  a  pulpit,  and  he  used  to 
stand  or  pace  up  and  down  in  front  of  the  altar  rails.  He 
writes  from  Comrie  to  Mr.  Donaldson,  vicar  of  St.  Mark's, 
Leicester.  The  National  Mission  was  to  be  in  October : 
he  was  distressed  over  a  series  of  pamphlets  prepared  for 
it  by  a  group  of  High  Churchmen — the  '  spiky  '  papers, 
as  he  calls  them  :  and  he  consented  to  edit  a  better  series  :  — 

The  spiky  papers  are  very  repellent,  and  often  stupid. 
I  quite  see  how  important  it  is  to  hurry  up  a  better  set, 
to  represent  the  true  Catholic  Faith.  I  am  trying  hard. 
It  will  work,  I  think.  Carey  has  written  me  a  very  good 
paper  on  "  Forgiveness."  Would  you  try  a  human  paper 
on  the  Saints  ?  not  unreal :  nor  "  ecclesiastical  "  :  but 
giving  them  their  natural  places  in  the  praying  and  witness- 
ing Body  ?  Could  this  not  be  done  in  a  way  that  would 
commend  itself  as  reasonable  and  right  ?  We  must  not 
pretend  that  we  know  everything  about  the  "  Far  World,'* 
when  we  know  so  very  very  little  :  and  we  must  not  rest 
our  case  on  fanciful  speculations  as  to  what  happened  to 
Enoch  :  or  what  we  should  like  to  believe.  But  a  true 
full  recognition  of  the  continuity  of  the  Body  of  Christ 
would  give  us  our  Saints  in  action.  Could  you  ?  Would 
you  ?     Quite  short.     Do.* 

*  The  supervising  editors  of  the  series  were  Dr.  Holland  and  Dr,  Stanton; 
Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Cambridge :  the  general  editor  was  Mr. 
Xj.  K.  a.  Bell,  chaplain  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  series  was 
entitled  '  New  Tracts  on  the  Creed.'  Fourteen  papers  were  published ; 
including  one  by  Dr.  Holland.  They  were  afterwards  published  in  book- 
form,  "  The  Meaning  of  the  Creed." 


320  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

To  Neville  Talbot 

July  31. — This  murder  of  the  Brussels'  captain  revolts 
me  more  than  Nurse  Cavell.  The  blinded  conscience, 
that  has  lied  itself  out  of  life,  is  an  appalling  phenomenon. 
All  moral  perspective  has  ceased.  There  is  a  readiness  to 
use  a  lie,  as  a  lie,  and  to  use  it  to  oneself,  to  deceive  one's 
own  conscience,  which  carries  one  outside  all  human  ex- 
perience. It  is  done,  too,  in  such  cold  blood,  a  year  and 
a  half  after  the  possible  offence  :  there  is  no  panic  or  rage 
to  be  urged  :  for,  after  all,  the  submarine  was  never  touched. 
These  lies,  all  along,  have  utterly  baffled  me.  They  betray 
an  abyss  which  I  have  no  means  of  measuring. 

We  are  growing  to  the  Mission,  I  think.  And  the  idea 
of  corporate  sin  is  slowly  laying  hold.  What  will  exactly 
happen,  no  one  can  say.  It  is  all  hidden  work,  as  yet. 
Gore  came  back  from  a  conference  at  Mirfield  more  full  of 
hope  than  at  any  time  in  his  life.  So  he  told  us.  We  do 
not  cohere  at  the  Central  Mission  Council ;  and  I  came 
out  rather  miserable  from  all  its  discussions  :  we  generally 
get  hopelessly  at  sea  :  but  the  separate  Committees  are 
working  well,  with  heart  and  joy.  .  .  .  Next  week,  I  take 
one  of  the  five  retreats  for  Gore's  clergy  :  mine  is  in  Queen's  : 
120  clergy.  Gore  is  at  Radley,  for  another.  Tommy  still 
sits  on  the  whirlwind,  and  controls  the  storm.     He  is  perfect. 


To  Frank  Thome 

Oct.  6. — I  am  really  in  retreat  at  Cuddesdon :  which 
must  sound  incredibly  remote  from  all  that  you  are  seeing 
and  enduring.  So  let  me,  out  of  its  blessed  peace,  send 
you  one  little  word  of  greeting  and  affection.  ...  I  had  a 
month  in  Scotland,  taking  charge  of  Comrie,  the  loveliest 
spot  on  earth.  Do  you  know  Highland  glories  ?  At  the 
end,  old  Haldane  came  for  a  two  hours'  talk  :  and  un- 
burdened his  soul :  and  let  me  record  his  record  of  all  the 
interviews  with  Kaiser  and  Tirpitz  and  Chancellor,  etc. 
His  case  is  absolutely  good.  He  was  perfectly  frank  over 
them.  When  the  papers  come  out,  we  shall  all  confess 
ou.  sins.  And  we  owe  it  to  him  that  we  had  the  finest 
little  army  ever  put  into  the  field  ready  to  sail  the  moment 
it  was  wanted.     He  is  easing  his  soul  now  with  philosophy, 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  MARCH.  1918        321 

his  first  love.  Oxford  begins  next  week  :  and  we  shall  be 
more  entirely  a  Camp  than  ever.  Our  200  flying-men  keep 
Ch.  Ch.  alive  :  and  now  and  again  Peck  wakes  to  quite 
its  historic  noises.  We  are  all  at  the  Mission,  and  are 
placarding  our  clerical  failings  on  every  high  hill.  There 
has  been  a  great  effort.  Every  parson  has  been  swept 
into  retreat.  If  only  something  follows  !  Goodbye,  dear. 
Keep  your  true  self  just  what  it  was  ;  and  you  will  do. 
Come  home  safe,  if  you  can.  God  is  yours,  and  you  are 
His. 


To  Walter  H.  Carey 

Exeter,  Dec.  16. — I  have  been  ordered  off  for  rest  and 
am  on  my  way  to  Newquay  with  dear  Winton  and  his 
wife,  both  crooked  by  'flu.  We  are  all  to  recoup  together. 
I  shall  have  to  go  slowly.  I  expect  I  am  very,  very  old. 
Mercifully,  you  are  young.  We  will  keep  our  Pagets  and 
Moberlys.  But  you  cannot  be  like  one  of  them  ;  can  you  ? 
Only,  you  can  keep  your  heart  open  to  their  worth.  That 
is  a  great  thing  to  do.  We  want  all  sorts  :  we  want  the 
joy  of  infinite  variation  :  we  want  to  do  our  own  bit  all  the 
better,  because  there  are  so  many  other  bits  to  be  done 
of  which  we  cannot  even  grasp  the  secret.  All  along  the 
past  we  have  got  into  tricks  of  hugging  our  own  :  seeing 
nothing  but  the  beauty  and  glory  of  what  we  see  :  and  using 
our  own  vocation  so  as  to  make  us  blind  to  other  types 
of  calls.    Now,  we  are  hungering  for  rich  comprehension. 

As  to  cheerfulness.  I  read  in  my  favourite  V  (Euvre  des 
Jeunes  '  of  the  Dominican  ideal — so  austere  and  high,  yet 
with  a  great  insistance  on  the  necessity  of  always  retaining 
the  note  of  joy,  supreme  and  unbroken  :  the  joy  of  having 
come  through  :  the  joy  of  knowing  that  nothing  can  beat 
you  under, 

Marius  the  Epicurean  always  haunts  me  with  its  picture 
of  the  blytheness  of  Christians,  who  had  faced  all  the 
evil  facts,  and  disguised  nothing,  but  abode  blythe  over 
against  the  anxious,  strained,  cheerless  virtue  of  Marcus 
Aurelius. 

Have  you  read  your  Quick  ?  He  is  our  real  young  man  : 
the  best  of  them  all :  '  Essays  in  Orthodoxy.'  He  flings 
over  the  Streeter  impasse. 

I  will  send  you  a  tiny  lecture  on  eschatology,  which  I 

Y 


322  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

rather  believe  in.*    Bless  you  for  Xmas.    Christ  is  born, 
after  all. 

He  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Talbot  were  at  Newquay  for  three 
weeks  :  invalids,  all  of  them.  But  "  the  weather  was  so 
kindly  :  and  the  hotel  so  friendly  and  hospitable  :  and  the 
books  we  read  so  brilliant  and  repaying :  and  we  all  three 
kept  getting  well."  He  writes,  on  Christmas  Eve,  to 
Mrs.  Spencer  Holland,  "  You  ought  to  have  seen  the  roaring 
seas  of  yesterday :  superb.  To-day  it  is  all  gentleness  : 
purring  over  yesterday's  thrills.  So  Christmas  comes.  We 
can  warm  our  own  hearts'  hands  over  each  others'  hearts' 
fires  :  he,  you,  and  I,  the  little  knot — with  dear  Lilly  felt — 
that  is  all  that  remains.  But  we  are  very  close  and  near 
and  dear.  And  can  build  up  a  very  good  Christmas  between 
us.  God  bless  you  both."  Back  at  Christ  Church,  he 
writes  to  Mrs.  Talbot,  Jan.  19,  1917,  "  It  was  a  delicious 
sample  of  what  Providence  can  do,  if  she  tries.  She  so 
seldom  puts  out  her  best.  She  lies  back,  and  gives  no 
sign.  But  this  time,  something  had  roused  her  into  activity  : 
and  she  really  surpassed  herself." 


1917-March,  19 1 8 

To  Bishop  Williams 

July  5,  1917. — We  have  got  past  the  terror  of  trying 
our  hands  at  reprisals  [for  the  air-raids].  Labour  is 
very  disturbed,  and  strained.  But  it  holds  itself  in  with 
great   self-command.     It   has   been   very   sorely  tried   by 

*  On  June  19,  he  gave  the  Liverpool  Lecture,  to  the  Bishop  and  Clergy 
of  the  Liverpool  Diocese.  He  took  for  his  subject  Eschatology,  the  study 
of  the  last  things  of  all.  To  him,  in  1916,  eschatology  consisted  not  in 
fanciful  thoughts  about  the  Day  of  Judgment  and  Heaven  and  Hell,  but 
in  the  final  vindication  of  God  on  earth.  As  he  wrote  in  the  first  winter  of 
the  War :  "  We  are  eschatologists.  God  must  win.  We  cannot  have 
anything  less." 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  MARCH,  1918       323 

mishandling.  It  will  keep  its  temper,  if  only  the  profiteering 
can  be  got  under.  That  really  maddens  it :  and  there  is  a 
dreadful  lot  of  it  about.  It  is  very  difficult  to  come  to 
grips  with.  But  we  feel  it  acutely  everywhere.  .  .  .  We 
have  just  had  our  '  Longworth '  at  Cuddesdon :  very 
happy,  and  the  garden  a  dream  of  beauty  and  potatoes. 
But  over  two  matters  we  could  see  no  light,  i.e.,  training 
of  clergy,  and  religious  education  in  secondary  and  primary 
schools.  Both  these  things  are  in  a  desperate  tangle.  For 
the  women — we  shall  give  them  the  full  rights  given  to  the 
laymen,  in  time. 

Dr.  Alexander  Gibson,  who  attended  him — Sir  William 
Osier  and  Dr.  Collier  saw  him  with  Dr.  Gibson  on  this  or 
that  occasion — writes  that  up  to  August,  1917,  Dr.  Holland's 
health  caused  him  no  anxiety :  but  he  then  began  to  lose 
strength,  and  to  complain  of  restlessness,  and  of  loss  of 
sleep  :  and  there  were  signs  that  the  action  of  the  heart 
was  beginning  to  be  defective.*  He  was  too  ill  to  finish 
his  lectures  to  the  Summer  School  in  Oxford.  During 
August  and  September,  he  was  with  the  Spencer  Hollands 
at  Beacon  Lodge,  Upper  Colwall,  near  Malvern  :  Father 
Russell,  Philip  Waggett,  and  other  friends,  helped  to  cheer 
him  :  he  got  some  gentle  motoring,  to  Ledbury  his  birth- 
place, and  elsewhere  :    and  there  was  an  arbour  in  the 

*  "  It  may  not  be  out  of  place,"  Dr.  Gibson  writes,  "  to  make  one  or 
two  remarks  about  his  character  from  a  doctor's  point  of  view.  I  have 
never  had  a  patient  who  so  wholeheartedly  trusted  me  to  do  whatever 
was  needful.  He  never  suggested  or  appeared  to  wish  to  have  a  second 
opinion :  and  when  such  became  necessary  his  reply  was  always  the  same, 
that  if  it  was  necessary  or  I  wished  it,  let  it  be  so,  and  I  should  ask  whom- 
ever I  wished.  He  welcomed  my  visits,  and  was  glad  when  the  necessary 
examinations  and  directions  as  to  treatment  were  over,  so  that  we  could 
turn  to  general  conversation  for  a  few  minutes.  He  was  then  deUghtful ; 
his  wont  was  to  get  me  to  talk  on  some  medical  or  scientific  subject  which 
had  a  human  interest,  and  his  keenness  in  being  told  some  of  the  problems 
which  were  being  attacked  is  one  of  my  most  precious  memories.  He 
professed  no  knowledge  of  science,  but  in  so  far  as  it  had  a  beneficent 
motive  he  showed  more  than  a  passing  interest.  The  suffering  caused  by 
the  war  was  a  source  of  pain  to  him  ;  and  it  was  abhorrent  to  him  to  be 
told  of  any  individual  case  of  interest  that  happened  to  be  in  hospital." 


324  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

garden,    where    he    could    sometimes    enjoy    to    sit    and 
write. 

To  Dr.  Talbot 

Malvern,  Sept.  2. — Dearest  of  men,  Your  love  is  ever 
with  me,  calling  me  to  myself.  It  is  a  hard  bad  time,  this 
recovery.  Heart  and  things  gain  strength,  and  are  very 
steady.  But  the  recovery  of  the  shaken  nerve-power  is 
horribly  slow :  and  the  physical  problems  are  endless. 
Nights  are  a  great  trial.  And  I  can  simply  do  nothing 
by  day,  but  get  "  through  it."  I  am  very  shaky,  and 
must  shut  myself  up  into  the  moment,  and  not  look  ahead 
at  all.  These  teeth  difficulties  hamper  me  so  dreadfully. 
I  hope  I  have  learned  something  about  myself.  I  try  to 
hold  fast  by  the  light.  But  so  much  of  oneself  is  dead,  at 
these  times.  I  think,  above  all,  of  the  trust  and  love  of 
my  dear,  dear  friends,  and  of  you,  and  your  beloved  wife. 
Your  prayers  and  your  faith  are  my  joy — in  the  blessing 
of  God,  and  of  His  Son. 


To  Mr.  Percy  Hartill 

Malvern,  Sept.  20. — God's  good  mercy  go  with  you  in 
your  priesthood.  You  may  be  enabled  to  do  so  much,  if 
you  are  loyal  to  the  grace  given.  Open  all  your  soul  to  its 
meaning.  Looking  back  on  all  that  I  have  so  hopelessly' 
failed  to  do  since  the  amazing  opportunity  of  priesthood 
was  given  to  me  forty-three  years  ago,  out  of  my  shame  I 
implore  you  to  hold  fast  by  the  light  shown  you  now,  when 
you  are  young  and  at  the  start.  Just  not  to  fail  what  now 
you  see,  will  mean  everything.  May  the  Power  of  the 
Name  uplift  and  bear  you  unto  the  end. 

To  Mrs.  Talbot 

Malvern,  Sept.  23. — Dearest  Lady — Dearest  Friend,  I 
have  just  read  over  your  tender  beautiful  letter,  which 
Alice  kept  for  me  until  I  ould  bear  it.  How  can  I  thank 
you  for  it  ?  How  can  I  thank  God  for  it  ?  How  is  it  that 
I  have  been  given  such  wonderful  boons,  as  a  love  like  yours  ? 
I  feel  so  humbled  :  abased  :  ashamed.  I  see  how  much 
of  my  life  I  have  left  absolutely  loose,  and  ungirt. 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  xMARCH,  1918       325 

My  eyes  have  been  opened,  in  a  strange  way,  to  the 
amount  of  sin  of  which  I  never  took  account.  It  was  hid 
from  me.  Now,  I  see.  I  suppose  that  nothing  but  this 
shock  would  have  opened  my  eyes.  So  I  am  thanking 
God  for  the  humiliation.  But  I  cling,  all  the  more,  to  any- 
thing that  assures  me  of  the  love  of  good  people,  that  has 
been  given  to  me  throughout  my  days  in  such  amazing 
abundance.  And  here  is  the  proof,  in  my  hands,  of  your 
trust,  and  confidence,  and  affection,  and  joy.  And  you 
are — you  !     There  is  no  one  like  you  1 

So  here  I  sit,  in  a  little  arbour,  with  the  rich  Hereford 
countryside  rolling  for  miles  and  miles  to  meet  the  dark 
slumber  of  the  Welsh  hills.  And  I  bless  God  for  all  good 
things,  and,  above  all,  for  you,  and  Edward,  and  your 
beloved  children.  Goodbye  !  With  all  the  love  in  my 
heart. 


In  October,  he  was  back  in  Oxford  :  he  writes  to  Miss 
Evelyn  Holland,  Oct.  4,  "  I  crept  in  to  the  tag-end  of  the 
retreat  to-day  :  it  is  going  on  in  Oriel,  close  by.  It  is  the 
retreat  to  which  I  have  gone  all  my  life."  Forty-five  years, 
from  1872  to  1917. 

On  Oct.  5,  he  writes  to  Bishop  WilHams,  "  I  shall  be  very 
little  good  for  this  Term,  and  shall  give  up  lectures,  and  try 
to  achieve  the  long-delayed  Introduction  to  the  Fourth 
Gospel.  If  only  I  can  manage  that !  I  can  crawl  about, 
and  begin  to  take  up  things,  as  they  come.  Goodbye,  dear 
man.  May  God  keep  hold  of  us  both  in  Christ."  And,  on 
Dec.  26,  "I  ought  to  be  thankful  I  have  no  pain :  and  I 
must  wait :  and  pray.  I  got  to  Cathedral  for  my  Christmas 
Eucharist  yesterday  :  a  great  comfort,  though  very  tiring. 
I  do  not  think  that  Henson  is  to  be  called  '  heretical '  over 
the  central  creed  of  the  Incarnation.  The  War  is  heart- 
breaking— Russia  !  Italy  !  I  see  no  end.  And  poor  old 
London  is  shaken  horribly  by  the  cruel  raids.  Goodbye. 
God  ever  bless  you."  And  to  Frank  Thome,  on  Christmas 
Eve,  "  It  has  been  blackness  visible,  here  at  home.    And 


326  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

we  both  look  out,  over  the  narrow  seas,  and  nothing  happens, 
for  all  our  deaths  :  while  the  curse  of  the  raids  hangs  heavy 
over  poor  London  :  and  the  very  blood  grows  cold  for  the 
broken  poor,  and  the  old,  and  the  sick,  who  lie  quaking 
under  the  cruel  horror.  Goodbye,  dear  son.  God's  gracious 
mercy  be  with  you,  in  this  blind  year.  My  love  is 
yours." 

On  Feb.  28,  1918,  he  wrote  his  last  letter  to  Mr.  Cheshire 
about  Commonwealth  :  "  Our  number  looks  splendid.  It 
really  keeps  up  wonderfully.  Old  Wardman  is  pushing 
along  with  great  courage  and  skill :  and  you  are  most  happy 
and  successful.  We  seem  to  have  lots  of  stuff."  On 
Feb.  29,  his  last  letter  to  Dr.  Talbot :  "  And  you  !  74  ! 
Incredible.  Your  splendid  strength  lasts  wonderfully.  But 
we  all  are  nearing  the  hour  of  closing.  Only  the  great 
mercy  of  the  Pardon  can  sustain.  It  is  dreadful  how  little 
of  real  spiritual  effort  is  possible,  while  the  weakness  is  on 
us.  I  can  make  so  very  little  of  it :  with  this  languor  and 
barrenness.  Goodbye,  dearest  of  friends."  On  March  2, 
he  took  his  last  walk  outside  Christ  Church  :  just  into  the 
Meadows,  and  along  the  sheltered  path  under  Merton  wall. 
On  March  6,  he  had  a  bad  heart  attack  :  Canon  Ottley 
gave  him  the  Holy  Communion  :  Mrs.  Spencer  Holland  and 
Miss  Hancock  received  it  with  him.  "  I  am  sitting  here 
waiting  for  the  end,"  he  said.  He  had  hoped  that  he  might 
be  moved  to  Crossways,  He  could  still  enjoy  to  see  intimate 
friends,  and  to  be  read-to  and  played-to  ;  he  said  Mozart  was 
"  so  refreshing — ^pure  joy  "  ;  he  listened  gladly  to  Morris's 
"  The  House  of  the  Wolfings  "  and  to  Sir  Sidney  Colvin's 
Life  of  Keats  :  and  on  March  10  he  had  a  thesis  for  a  divinity 
degree  read  to  him,  and  dictated  some  notes  on  it. 

The  worst  day  was  Monday,  March  11  :  he  was  terribly 
restless  and  breathless.    After  that  day,  he  remained  free 


FROM  AUGUST,  1914  TO  MARCH,  1918        327 

from  distress :  he  wandered  in  his  mind  a  little,  now  and 
again :  he  was  quiet  and  happy.  Mrs.  Spencer  Holland 
noted  in  a  diary  that  "  on  Wednesday  we  thought  that  he 
was  sinking,  and  I  called-in  Canon  Ottley,  who  prayed  with 
him.  That  evening  in  bed  he  recited  a  verse  or  two  of 
'  There  is  a  green  hill  far  away,'  and  then  *  Yarrow  Revisited,' 
in  quite  a  strong  voice.  He  said  after  Canon  Ottley  had 
been  with  him,  '  It  was  so  wonderfully  peaceful :  why,  I 
am  quite  quiet  now  :  better,  much  better,  than  the  doctor's 
visit.'  He  understood  quite  well  a  message  from  Miss  Enie 
Holland,  and  sent  her  his  blessing.  On  hearing  news  of 
his  elder  sister,  he  said,  '  Give  her  my  fond  love.'  I  said, 
'  And  your  blessing  ' :  he  replied,  '  Yes,  and  my  blessing.' 
On  Friday,  he  spoke  about  countersigning  the  cheque  for 
the  Maurice  Hostel ;  which  he  did  quite  easily.  That 
afternoon,  he  suddenly  began  to  say  the  Nunc  Dimittis, 
and  then  the  psalm,  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd ;  and  some 
prayers :  all  in  a  strong  voice.  On  Saturday,  he  said 
quite  suddenly, '  Well,  you  see  the  end  is  not  come.  It  is 
extraordinary.'  I  said  something  about  his  being  sur- 
rounded by  love  and  peace :  and  he  said  at  once,  '  Yes, 
yes :  that  I  believe  profoundly.'  I  reminded  him  how 
he  often  had  said,  '  God's  time  is  the  best '  :  (the  Bach 
cantata  he  used  to  like  me  to  play).  He  said,  '  That  too  I 
believe  most  profoundly.'  " 

On  the  Saturday  evening,  when  his  brother  said  good- 
night to  him,  he  said,  "  Dear  boy,  you  have  been  so  good  to 
me."  Later,  Mrs.  Illingworth,  Miss  Hancock,  and  his 
night-nurse,  happened  to  be  in  the  room  together :  and  he 
gaily  said,  "  What  a  lot  of  people  !  We  must  have  a  dance  !  " 
When  Miss  Hancock  was  leaving  him,  he  was  so  drowsy 
that  she  thought  it  would  be  better  not  to  have  the  prayer 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  have  every  night :  but  he 
put  his  hands  together  for  it  :  so  she  said  it :   and  he  said. 


328  HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND 

"  Goodnight,  dear,"  and  she  said,  "  Goodnight,  Sir."     He 
died  quietly,  about  i  a.m.,  Sunday,  March  17. 

They  put  in  his  hands  a  cross  which  the  Serbian  students 
in  Oxford  had  given  to  him.  His  robes  were  used  as  a  pall 
for  the  coffin.  His  body  was  placed  in  his  little  prayer- 
room.  Early  on  Wednesday,  it  was  carried  into  Cathedral, 
for  a  celebration  of  Holy  Communion.  The  day  was 
brilliantly  fine  :  a  company  of  air-men,  who  were  lodged  in 
Christ  Church,  stood  at  attention  :  and  an  aeroplane  circled 
low  to  salute  him.  At  the  funeral  service  at  mid-day,  the 
Cathedral  was  filled  with  a  great  crowd.  From  Cathedral, 
his  body  was  taken  to  Cuddesdon  for  burial.  There  was  no 
crawling  black  procession  :  he  would  have  disliked  that  sort 
of  funeral :  there  was  a  motor-hearse,  with  motors  following  • 
so  that  it  seemed  as  if  he  were  going  ahead  swiftly,  still 
able  to  enjoy  the  sunlight  and  the  country,  and  signalling 
with  his  red  robes  to  the  friends  who  were  behind  him. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

This  list  includes  only  his  more  important  writings  :  not  all  his 
prefaces  or  introductions  to  the  books  of  his  friends,  contributions 
to  collections  of  essays,  sermons  published  singly,  and  so  forth. 
It  is  characteristic  of  him,  that  no  less  than  twenty-eight  writers 
asked  him,  and  none  in  vain,  to  write  introductions  to  their 
books.  The  chief  of  these  are  in  Canon  Richmond's  "  Economic 
Morals  "  (1890),  "  Lombard  Street  in  Lent  "  (1894),  and  Miss 
Carta  Sturge's  "  The  Truth  and  Error  of  Christian  Science " 

(1903)- 

Where  two  dates  are  assigned  to  a  book,  thus,  1888  [1887], 
it  means  that  the  later  year  is  the  date  on  the  title-page,  but  a 
copy  of  the  book  was  sent  to  the  British  Museum  Library  in  the 
earlier  year.  In  this  memoir,  the  earlier  year  is  reckoned  as 
the  date  of  publication. 

1.  Impressions    of    the    Ammergau    Passion-Play."     By    an 

Oxonian,     pp.  31.     J.  T.  Hayes,  London,  1870. 

2.  Dean    Aldrich :     a    Commemoration    address.    Clarendon 

Press,  Oxford,  1872. 

3.  The  Apostolic  Fathers,  pp.  233.   In  "  The  Fathers  for  English 

Readers."     1878.     New  edition,  1893. 

4.  The  Sacrifice  of  the  Cross.     Rivingtons,  London,  1879. 

5.  Justin  Martyr.     In  the  Dictionary  of  Christian  Biography, 

1882. 

6.  Logic  and  Life  ;  with  other  sermons,    xii,  320.     Rivingtons, 

1882.     Third  edition,  1885. 

7.  Sermon  to  the  Co-operative  Congress  in  Oxford.    Central 

Co-operative  Board,  Manchester,  1882. 

8.  Good  Friday  :  addresses  in  St.  Paul's,    viii,  iii.    Rivingtons, 

1884.     Second  edition,  1889. 

9.  Creed   and   Character :    sermons,     xviii,   343.     Rivingtons, 

1887.    Second  edition,  1888. 
329 


330  HENRY  SCOTT  HOLLAND 

10.  Christ   or  Ecclesiastes :   sermons  in   St.   Paul's,    ix,   144. 

Rivingtons.  1888  [1887].     Second  edition,  1888. 

11.  Faith.     In  Lux  Mundi.     John  Murray,  1889. 

12.  On  Behalf  of  Belief :  sermons,    xv,  285.     Rivingtons,  1889 

[1888]. 

13.  (With  Mr.   W.   S.   Rockstro.)     Memoir  of  Madame  Jenny 

Lind-Goldschmidt  :  her  early  art-life  and  dramatic 
career,  1820-1851.  2  vols.  John  Murray,  1891.  Third 
edition,  1891  :  abridged  edition,  1893  :  translation  into 
Swedish,  1891. 

14.  Pleas   and  Claims   for   Christ,     x,  323.     Longmans,    1892, 

Second  edition,  1893. 

15.  God's  City :  and  The  Coming  of  the  Kingdom,    xvii,  342. 

Longmans,  1894.     New  edition,  1897. 

16.  Church  and  State.     In  Essays  in  aid  of  Church  Reform. 

1898. 

17.  Obligation  of  Civil  Law.     In  Good  Citizenship.     1899. 

18.  Old  and  New :  sermons:    x,  218.     S.  T.  Freemantle,  1900. 

Second  edition,  1903. 

19.  Personal  Studies,     viii,  288.    Wells  Gardner,  1905. 

20.  Vital  Values  :  sermons,     vi,  227.     Wells  Gardner,  1906. 

21.  The  Optimism  of  Butler's  "  Analogy."     Romanes  Lecture. 

Clarendon  Press,  Oxford,  1908. 

22.  George    Howard   Wilkmson.     In    Biographies    of    Eminent 

Churchmen.     1909. 

23.  Brooke  Foss  Westcott.     In  the  same  series;     1910. 

24.  Fibres  of  Faith,    v,  120.    Wells  Gardner,  1910. 

25.  Fundamentals  :  an  address  at  the  Memorial  Hall,  Farringdon 

Street,  by  invitation  of  the  London  Congregational 
Board.     Mowbrays,  1910. 

26.  (With  other  writers.)     Miracles.     Longmans,  1911. 

27.  Our  Neighbours,    pp.  176.    A  Handbook  of  the  Christian 

Social  Union.     1911. 

28.  Property  and  Personality.     In  a  series  of  essays,  "  Property, 

its  Duties  and  Rights,"  edited  with  an  introduction  by 
Bishop  Gore.     1913. 

29.  A  Bundle  of  Memories:     viii,  321.     Wells  Gardner,  1915. 

30.  The    Real    Problem    of    Eschatology.    Liverpool    Lecture. 

Liverpool  Diocesan  Board  Publications.      1916. 


INDEX 


Aberdeen  University,   Hon.   Degree, 

220 
Acland,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arthur,  120,  157 
"  Act  of  God,"  286 
Acton,  Lord,  11 1 

Adderley,  James,  169,  202,  203,  205 
Ady,  Mrs.  (Julia  Cartwright),  77,  86, 

97.  147 
Ady,  Miss  Cecily,  263 
Ady,  W.  H.,  10,  37  ;  letters  to,  23,  49, 

61,  92,  99,  100,  237 
JEgean  Islands,  162,  317 
Ainger,  A.  C,  10 
Aldrich,  Dean,  58 
Alexander,  Canon,  141,  155,  158 
Allesley  School,  8 
Altar-vessels,  St.  Paul's,  148 
Amen  Court,  St.  Paul's,  143 
Ammergau,  the  Passion-Play  (1870), 

47 
Analysis,  the  fallacy  of,  90,  105 
Anson,  Harold,  285,  304,  305 
Anti-Sweating  League,  230 
Antonelli,  Cardinal,  119 
Arnold- Forster,  Miss,  161  ;  letters  to, 

278,  293 
"  Art  is  not  for  use,"  46 
Asquith,  Mr.,  236,  266,  268 
Athens  (1886),  163 
Awdry,  Canon,  120 

B 

Bach,  117,  275 

Baker,  Pacha,  181 

Balfour,  Mr.  A.  J.,  273 

Balfour,  Mr.  Gerald,  273 

Ballaignes,  Vallorbes,  165 

Balhol,  18-53,  80,  167 

Bayne,  T.  V.,  88 

Beauty    in     Nature,     secondary    to 

human  interests,  163 
Bedford,  Mr.,  8 
Bel  Alp,  160 
Bell,  G.  K.  A.,  319 
Benson,  Archbishop,  196 
Benson,  Godfrey  R.,  200 
Bertie,  A.  E.,  10,  14 


Bettws-y-Coed,  North  Wales,  26,  87, 

129,  130,  260,  271 
Bickersteth,  Cyril,  169 
BirreU,   Mr.,   Education  Bill   (1906), 

227-229 
Birth,  the  wonder  of,  257 
Blake,  William,  276 
Body,  Canon,  120 
Booth,  Mr.  Charles,  148 
Boutflower,  Bishop,  129 
Bradlaugh,  Mr.,  280 
Bradley,  A.  C,  25 
Bramwell,  E.,  224 
Bray,  Reginald,  232 
Brighstone,   first  "  holy  party  "   at, 

(1875),  85 
Brown,  T.  E.,  313 
Browning,  277 

Browning  Society  (Oxford),  80 
Bryce,  Lord,  229 
Buckland,  C.  E.,  10,  14,  20 
Bulgaria  and  Turkey  (1876),  87 
"  Bundle  of  Memories  "  (1915).  3^6 
Butler's  Analogy,  49,  233 


Campbell,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  221 

Carey,  W.  H.,  282,  319,  321 

Carlyle,  28,  274 

Carter,  John,  169 

Censorship,  Christ  Church  (1882),  108 

Charity-children  at  St.  Paul's,  139 

Cheshire,     Christopher,      153,     207 ; 

letters  to,  282,  326 
Chesterton,  G.  K.,  317 
Children,  232  ;    letters  to,  257-264 
Choir-School,  St.  Paul's,  142,  149 
Christ  Church,  49-54.  80-83,  126-135, 

229 
"  Christ  in  Flanders,"  317 
"  Christ  or  Ecclesiastes  "  (1887),  165 
Christian  Social  Union,  169-173,  203 

205,  216,  240-251 
Christianity  and  the  War,  313 
"  Christianity  a  Romance,"  282 
"  Christianity,  the  central  fact  of," 

48 
Church,  Dean,  113,  140,  155 


331 


332 


INDEX 


Church,  Miss,  139,  294 
Church  of  England,  229,  291 
Citizenship  "  as  unto  the  Lord,"  29- 

33 
Cock,  Clifford,  264 
Collier,  Dr.  Wilham,  323 
Commemoration  Address  (1872),  58 
"  Commonwealth,"  206,  304,  326 
Communion,   letters  on,  21,  29,  91, 

215,  231  ;  services  in  Christ  Church, 

300.  313 

Communion  of  Saints,  78,  319 

Comrie,  Perthshire,  319,  320 

Confession,  letters  on  (1872),  60,  63 

Confirmation,  11,  15 

Conington,  John,  24,  40,  43 

Cookson,  Charles,  18 

Co-operative  Congress  in  Oxford,  ser- 
mon to  (1882),  105 

Copleston,  Bishop,  69,  77,  99,  107, 
114,  280 

Coptic  Church,  178,  190 

Courthope,  W.  J.,  40 

Coxon,  Miss  Annie,  263 

"  Creed  and  Character  "  (1887),  165 

Creighton.  Bishop,  letters  to,  194,  209 

Cremation,  prayer  for  use  after,  308 

Criticism  and  Portraiture,  letters  of, 
275-287 

Crossways,    Berkhamsted    Common, 

309 
Crum,  Miss  Mary,  197 
Cuddesdon,  62,  76,  291,  320,  328 
"  Culture    and    the    International " 

(1869),  42 
Curzon,  Earl,  231 

D 

Dalmally,  Loch  Awe  (1867),  20 
Dasent,  Manuel,  55,  57,  71 
Dearmer,  Dr.  Percy,  169,  216,  282 
Death,  letters  on,  8,  43,  57,  76,  199 
201,   220,   231,  235,  271,  293-296, 

307 
De  la  Mare,  Walter,  153,  282 
"  Democracy     rising     into     power " 

(1872),  61 
Dependence,  bodily  and  spiritual,  91 
Deterrence,    under    the    Poor    Law 

(1909),  234 
Discipline,  30,  134,  247 
Disestablishment,  211,  212 
Divinity  at  Oxford :  examinerships  in, 

(1883),  109  ;  degrees  in  (1912),  301- 

304 
Dolling,  Robert,  207 
Dominican  ideal,  the,  321 
Donaldson,  Canon,  153,  319 
Dorritz,  Canon,  255 


Drew,  Mrs.,  162,  165,  198,  233 
Drewitt,  Dr.,  174,  176,  179,  181 
Dumbleton  Hall,  3,  8 
Durham  Cathedral,  102 


Ecclesiastical  Discipline   Commission 

(1906),  230 
"  Economic    Morals,"    Canon    Rich- 
mond's lectures  on  (1889),  169,  172 
Education  Bill  (1906),  227 
Egypt,   journal  of  three  months  in 

1890.. 174-193 
Ellerton  Essay  (1873),  70 
Encouragement      and      Consolation, 

letters  of,  288-296 
England,  the  beauty  of,  284,  308 
English  Hymnal,  219,  230 
Englishmen,        Elizabethan         and 

Georgian,  217 
Eschatology,  322 

"  Essays  in  Orthodoxy,"  Quick's,  321 
Eton,  8-17,  32,  79,  265 
Eurydice,  wreck  of  the  (1878),  94 
Everitt,  Lieut. -Col.,  letter  to,  146 
"  Every  man  his  own  grandmother," 

248 
Eves,  Miss,  214 
Examinations,  1.  H.  Green  on,  41  ; 

Holland  on,  132 


"  Faith,  Hope,  and  Political  Eco- 
nomy," 81,  171-173 

Fantasy,  letters  of,  255 

Fathers,  the  Apostolic,  Holland's 
book  on  (1878),  97 

Ferguson,  Ronald,  17,  118 

"  Fibres  of  Faith  "  (1910),  239 

Fisher,  Charles,  318 

Fletcher,  G.  C,  169 

Forster,  Mr.  W.  E.,  161 

France,  a  week  in  (1915),  315 

Fremantle,  Stephen,  10,  20,  25,  35, 
57  ;  letters  to,  62,  70-75  ;  death, 
76  ;   memorial  in  Cathedral,  83 

Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  118 

Friendship,  a  letter  on,  94 

Fry,  Captain,  320 

Furse,  Canon,  169 


Gayton  Lodge,  Wimbledon,  11,  115, 

233 
General  Election  of  1895.  .205 
Gibson,  Dr.  Alexander,  323 
Gifford,  Edward,  94 
Gifford,  Lady,  4,  8 


INDEX 


333 


Gifiord,  Lord,  4 

GifiEord,  Miss,  26,  121 

GifEord,  Scott,  4,  12 

Gilbert,  Alfred,  letter  from,  149 

Gilbertson,  Minor  Canon,  149 

Gladstone,  Mr.,  87,  102,  198  ;  in  con- 
trast to  Mr.  Ruskin,  93  ;  in  con- 
trast to  Lord  Hartington,  269  ; 
his  edition  of  Butler,  233 

Glasgow,  Bishopric  of,  167 

"  God's  City  ;  and  the  Coming  of  the 
Kingdom  "  (1894),  203 

Goldschmidt,  Madame  Lind-  (Jenny 
Lind),  117,  170,  197,  289 

Goldschmidt,  Otto,  117 

Gooch,  Miss,  175,  and  pt.  ii.,  oh.  3 

Goold-Adams,  Sir  H.  J.,  222,  223 

Gore,  Bishop,  80,  118,  167,  237,  284, 
320  ;   and  pt.  ii.,  ch.  6 

Gospel  Record,  the,  280,  285,  304-306 

"  Graves  are  empty  things,"  123 

Green,  Thomas  Hill,  24-26 ;  letters 
from,  19-65  ;   letters  to,  30-63 

Green,  Mrs.  T.  H.,  letter  to,  113 

Greenwood,  F.,   76 

Gregory,  Dean,  150,  238 

Gregory,  Miss  Eleanor,  153 

Guild  of  the  Epiphany,  174 

Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  169,  242 

H 

Haldane,  Lord,  266,  273,  320 

Hall,  J.  C.  224 

Hancock,  Miss  Alice,  225,  300,  327  ; 

letters  to,  315 
Handwriting,  a  note  on  Holland's,  263 
Hankey,  Wentworth,  118 
Harcourt,  Sir  William,  211 
Harrington  Bey,  181 
Hartill,  Percy,  letter  to,  324 
Hartington,  Lord,  269 
Haw,  Mr.  George,  214 
Hegel,  49,  244,  273 
Henson,  Bishop,  325 
"  Historicity  "  and  the  Gospels,  280, 

285,  304-306 
Hohdays,  in  later  years,  308 
Holland,  Miss  Amy,  4,  213,  230 
Holland,  Arthur,  4,  243,  307,  309 
Holland,  Edward,  3 
Holland,  Miss  Evelyn,  letters  to,  231, 

256,  264,  288,  325 
Holland,    George    Henry,   3-12,    18, 

120,  198 
Holland,  Mrs.  G.  H.,  4-9,  121,213  ; 

letters  to,  8,  11,  40,  46,  78,  107,  198 
Holland,  Henry  Scott.     At  Eton, 

8-13  ;     at   Balliol,   19-52  ;     choice 

of    vocation,    12,    21,    40 ;     Final 


Schools,  and  Senior  Studentship  at 
Christ  Church,  46-49 ;  lectures, 
55,  82  ;  ordained  deacon  (1872), 
62  ;  street-preaching  in  Hoxton, 
69,  75  ;  first  sermon  in  St.  Paul's 
(1873),  74  ;  ordained  priest  (1874), 
76  ;  first  visit  to  Hawarden,  87  ; 
Select  Preacher  in  Oxford,  98,  208  ; 
Senior  Proctor,  10*4  ;  Censor,  108  ; 
Hon.  Canon  of  Truro,  108  ;  Canon 
of  St.  Paul's  (1884),  III  ;  founder 
of  the  Christian  Social  Union 
(1889),  169  ;  founder  of  "  Common- 
wealth "  (1896),  206  ;  founder  of 
the  Maurice  Hostel  (1898),  214; 
visit  to  South  Africa  (1903),  220  ; 
Romanes  lecture  (1908),  233  ;  Hon. 
D.D.,  Aberdeen,  220  ;  Hon.  D.Litt., 
Oxford,  231  ;  Regius  Professor  of 
Divinity  in  Oxford  (1910),  236  ; 
proposal  to  throw  open  the  divinity 
degrees,  311  ;  visit  to  France 
{1915),  315  ;  failing  health,  and 
death,  323-328 

Holland,  Lawrence,  4,  21,  119,  200 

Holland,  Miss,  4,  73,  89,  144,  162, 
213  ;  letters  to,  29,  75,  87,  102,  146, 
208 

Holland,  Spencer  L.,  4,  and  pt.  i., 
ch.  6;  letters  to,  13,  89-92,  94, 
103,  222 

Holland,  Mrs.  Spencer,  309,  311,  327  ; 
letters  to,  223,  295,  303 

Holland,  Swinton,  3 

Holland,  Thurstan,  8,  157 

Holman  Hunt,  Mr.,  148 

"  Holy  Party,"  the,  85,  96,  loi,  195 

"  Home  is  our  test  ground,"  271 

Home  Life,  at  Gayton  Lodge,  115- 
124,  233 ;  at  Amen  Court,  144, 
224  ;    in  Christ  Church,  299 

Hon.  Degrees,  Aberdeen  and  Oxford, 
220,  231 

Hornby,  Bishop,  263 

Horner,  George,  23 

Horton,  Dr.  R.  F.,  109 

Houblon,  Archdeacon,  71 

Howard,  Monsignore,  119 

Hoxton,  street-preaching,  69,  75 ; 
Maurice  Hostel,  214 

Huxley,  Prof.,  170 

Hymns  and  Hymnals,  145,  219,  230 


Illingworth,  John  Richardson,  80,  82, 

86,  195 
lUingworth,  Mrs.,  257,  327 
Independent    Labour    Party    (1895), 

205 


334 


INDEX 


Industrial  Christian  Fellowship,  250 
Infallibility,  Papal,  letters  on,  56,  93 
Inter-denominational  union,  251 
Ireland  in  1882..  107;    in  1887..  166 
Isaacs,  Prebendary,  196,  215,  256 


Jarrow,  Bede's  chapel  at,  102 
"  Jesuitry,"  letters  on  (1878),  29-33 
John  Bull,  an  obsolete  figure,  217 
Johnson  Pacha,  181,  185,  188 
Johnson,  William,  9-18 
Jowett.  19,  27,  33,  37,  80 
Jubilee  Procession  (1897),  210 
Justin  Martyr,  Holland's  article  on, 
97 

K 

Keble  College,  61,  80,  168,  278 
Kennion,  Bishop,  10,  15 
Kilbracken,  Lord,  23,  153 
King,  Bishop,  235 


Labour,  171,  205,  241,  250  ;  Labour 
and  official  Liberalism,  212  ; 
Labour  and  the  Education  Bill 
{1906),  230 ;  Labour  and  the 
Church,  212,  250  ;  Labour  and  the 
War,  314-322 

Lang,  Dr.  J.  M.,  220 

Laundries,  Government  inspection  of, 
162 

Lee,  PhiHp  E.,  10,  37 

Legard,  A.  G.,  10 ;   letters  to,  33,  38, 

46,  47.  50 

Leo  XIII,  Coronation  of,  163 

Liddell,  A.  G.  C,  23 

Liddell,  Dean,  50,  80,  99 

Liddon,  Canon,  74,  87,  107,  140,  155, 
160  ;   letters  from,  iii,  145 

Lightfoot,  Bishop,  84 

Lock,  Canon,  80,  109,  282 

"  Log  of  the  Water-logged,  The,"  176 

"  Logic  and  Life  "  (1882),  104 

London,  34,  70,  88,  159;  "the  one 
thing  set  before  us  "  (1872),  61  ; 
London  and  the  South  African 
War,  215,  219 ;  multitude  and 
solitude,  217  ;  good  workmanship 
in  London,  253  ;  London  and  the 
raids,  159,  326;  L.C.C.  election, 
1907.. 231 

Longworth,  195 

"  Lux  Mundi,"  168,  280 

Lyttelton,  Bishop,  80,  100,  220 

Lyttelton,  Sir  Neville,  15 


M 

Marius  the  Epicurean,  321 

Marlborough,  Bishop  of,  169 

Marriage,  letters  on,  167,  269 

Mason,  Canon,  170 

Matthews,  C.  H.  S.,  305 

Maude,  Mrs.  Raymond,  117 

Maurice  Hostel,  124,  214,  251 

Mead,  Mr.,  225 

Merriman,  J.  X.,  222,  223 

Meynell,  Mrs.,  162 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  24,  41,  45 

Mill,  W.  H.,  82,  244 

Miners'  strike  (1894),  202 

Minimum  wage,  202 

Miracles,  165,  244,  304 ;  letters  from 
R.  L.  Nettleship,  62,  64 ;  from 
T.  H.  Green,  66  ;  from  Holland, 
84,  280,  285,  305 

Missions  and  Missionaries,  126,  197  ; 
Junior  Clergy  Missionary  Associa- 
tion, 196  ;  Universities'  Mission  to 
Central  Africa,  196,  288  ;  Christ 
Church  Missionary  Association 
(1876),  126 ;  Mission  of  Help  to 
Church  in  S.  Africa,  221  ;  National 
Mission  (1916),  319-321  ;  Poplar 
Mission  (Christ  Church),  127 

Moberly,  Canon,  69,  75,  loi,  321 

Moore,  Aubrey,  80,  114,  168 

Morley,  Lord,  268 

Mozart,  29,  34,  284,  311,  326 

Murray,  Mr.  John,  117 

Murray,  Miss,  73,  154,  174 

Murray,  Miss  Annie,  284 

Music,  34,  141,  152,  275,  309 

Myers,  F.  W.,  273 

N 

"  Natural  Man,"  the,  282 

"  Nature,"    T.    H.    Green    on,    67 ; 

Holland  on,  34,  163,  232 
Nettleship,  R.  L.,  24-78,  162,  199 
Nevinson,  H.  W.,  83 
Newbolt,  Canon,  147 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  102 
New  Cathedral  Psalter,  310 
"  New  Century  Problems  "  (1901),  217 
Newman,  Cardinal,  29,  215,  282 
Newquay,  Cornwall,  76,  322 
"No  man  can  serve  two  masters,"  105 


Oakley,  Dean,  70 
"  Old  and  New  "  (1900),  215 
Ordination,  letters  on,  62-68,  76,  324 
Osier,  Sir  William,  323 


INDEX 


335 


Ottley,  Ganon,  127,  130,  168,  326 
"  Our  Neighbours  "  (191 1),  304 
Oxford  and  Eton,   19  ;    Oxford  and 

London,  61,  69,  88,  112;    Oxford 

and  Cambridge,  263 


Paget,  Francis,  Bishop  of  Oxford,  72, 
76,  168,  278,  284 

"  Pain,  the  world  of,"  145 

Palmer,  Archdeacon,  18,  19 

"  Parish  church  of  the  British  Em- 
pire," St.  Paul's  during  the  War, 
141 

Parker,  Wilfrid,  291 

Parry,  Sir  Hubert,  10 

Passion-Play  at  Ammergau  (1870), 
Holland's  account  of  it,  47 

Past  and  Present,  in  1897.  .210 

Patmos,  a  visit  to,  162 

Paton,  J.  B.,  84 

Patriotism,  real  and  sham,  103,  210, 
215,  219 

Peace  night,  1902.  .219 

"  Pesek,"  100 

Peterborough,  Holland  at,  59,  84 

Philosophy,  as  opposed  to  poetry, 
279  ;  philosophy  and  religion,  65, 
97  ;  "  the  final  test  of  aU  philoso- 
phies," 90 

Plato,  Holland's  lectures  on  the 
Repubhc,  82 

"  Pleas  and  Claims  for  Christ  "  (1892), 
200 

Political  Economy,  the  change  in,  81, 
171,  241 

Pollock,  Canon,  118 

Poor  Law,  "  deterrence  "  under  it,  234 

Portal,  Spencer  J.,  133 

Porter,  Dr.,  175-189 

Post-Impressionists,  237 

Preaching  in  St.  Paul's,  140,  153- 
169  ;  letters  about  sermons,  33,  74, 
'  78,  98,  209,  316 

Prestige,  the  "  fatal  blackguardly 
formula  "  of  (1881),  103 

Primrose,  Everard.  10 

Proctorship,  Holland's,  104,  108,  129 

"  Property  and  Personality  "  (1913), 
306 

Pusey,  Dr.,  107 

R 

Randolph,  Mr.,  102 
Reading-parties,  71,  75,  86,  128-134 
Real  Presence,  letter  on  the,  215 
Reay,  Lord,  113 
Reservation  of  the  Sacrament,  208, 215 


Richmond,  Canon,  86,  153,  169,  172, 

22S  ;   letters  to,  195,  198,  212 
Richmond,  Sir  WiUiam,  148 
Riddell,  James,  19,  59 
"  Ritualism,"  letters  on,  92,  208 
Rockstro,  W.  S.,  197 
Romanes  Lecture,  Holland's  (1908), 

233 
Rome,  visits  to,  5,  56,  163,  194  ;   the 

Roman  Church  and  the  Church  of 

England,  letters  on,  93,  291 
Rosebery,  Lord,  10-18,  197 
Ruskin,     Mr. :      lecture    in    Oxford 

(1870),  46  ;  visit  to  Hawarden,  93  ; 

letters  from,  106 
Russell,  Father,  323 
Russell,   Mr.    G.   W.    E.,    125,    153  ; 

letters  from,  225  ;    letters  to,  152, 

233 
Russia  and  England  in  1878.  .94 


"  Sackcloth,"    Holland's    article    in 

Commonwealth,  1897..  211 
St.  Andrew's,  Wells  Street,  120 
St.  Barnabas,  Pimlico,  14,  57,  122 
St.  Bernard  Hospice,  161 
St.  Francis,  264 
St.  Matthew,  Guild  of,  169,  242 
St.  Paul,  229,  283 
St.  Paul's,  111-114,  139-159 
St.  Peter's,  Eaton  Square,  56 
St.  Saviour's,  Hoxton,  61,  68,  y^ 
Savile,  W.  H.,  281 
Savonarola,  89 
Self,  the  unity  of,  90,  105 
"  Self-preoccupation,    the   ring-fence 

of,"  273 
Senhouse,  H.  P.,  14 
Serbian  Students  in  Oxford,  328 
Shakespeare  Society,  at  Balliol,  25  ; 

at  Christ  Church,  126 
Shaw,  Mr.  Martin,  310 
Shute,  Richard,  89 
Smith,  Mr.  A.  L.,  Master  of  Balliol, 

104,  108 
Smith,  Miss  Constance,  241 
S.P.C.K.,  97 
S.P.G.,  196 

"  Song  of  Paule's  Children,"  151 
Sons  of  the  Clergy,  annual  festival, 

146 
South  Africa,  visit  to,  221 
South  African  War,  215,  217 
South  Africans  in  Egypt,  1916.  .319 
Speir,  Miss  Marjorie,  letters  to,  256, 

263 
Spencer,  Herbert,  a  letter  on,  281 
Spilhammer,  J.  R.,  197 


336 


INDEX 


Stanton,  Dr.  V.  H.,  84,  319 

Stratford,  Laurence,  224  ;    letters  to, 

238,  312 
Street-preaching   in   Hoxton    (1873), 

69,  75 
Strong,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Ripon,  215, 

236,  320 
Suffering  and  character,  272,  295 
Sumner,    Heywood,    letters  to,    148, 

195,  206,  255,  276 
Sweated  Industries  Exhibition  (1906), 

230 
Switzerland  versus  North  Wales,  120, 

260 
Synthetical  Society,  dinner  of  the,  273 


Talbot,  Dr.,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  50, 

61,  86,  168  ;   letters  to,  passim 
Talbot,  Mrs.,  letters  to,  168,  226,  256, 

316,  322,  324 
Talbot,  Miss  May,  letters  to,  210,  221, 

258 
Talbot,  Neville,  Bishop  of  Pretoria ; 

letters  to,  312-320 
Talbot,  Miss  Winifred,  letters  to,  221, 

259 
Temple,  Archbishop,  41,  170,  196,  279 
Tennyson,  a  criticism  on,  278 
Theatricals  at  Gayton  Lodge,  118 
Theosophy  and  Re-incarnation,  284 
Thorne,  Frank,  313-325  _^ 

Tintern  Abbey,  38 

Town  and  country,  revelation  in,  232 
Trade  Unions,  97,  169,  220 
Trafalgar  Day,  146 
Transvaal  War,  102 
Tuckwell,  Miss  Gertrude,  251 
Tyndall,  John,  161 
Types  of    Englishmen,   Ehzabethan 

and  Georgian,  217 

U 

"  Undenominational  "  teaching,  25 
Unemployed,      the :       march     from 

Leicester  to  London  (1905),  226  ; 

at  St.  Paul's,  227 


V 

Vevey,  161 

Vidal,  Mr.,  16 

"  Vital  Values  "  (1906),  227 

W 

Wage,  the  minimum  (1893),  202 

Waggett,  Philip  N.,  134,  158,  310,  323 

Wakefield,  Dr.  Russell,  Bishop  of 
Birmingham,  214 

Wales,  38,  77,  87,  260,  271 

Walter,  A.  F.,  26,  37 

Ward,  Ivo,  296 

Ward,  Wilfrid,  273 

Wardman,  G.  W.,  207,  326 

Waterhouse,  Paul,  284,  309 

Watts,  Mr.  G.  F.,  147,  210 

Webb,  Sidney,  268 

Wellesbourne  Hall,  7,  116 

West,  Sir  Algernon,  197 

Westcott,  Bishop  of  Durham,  59,  84, 
169,  247 

White  Cross  League,  127,  247 

White,  Miss  Gladys,  letters  to,  261, 
288 

Wilgress,  Prebendary,  235 

Wilkinson,  Bishop  of  Truro,  56,  113  ; 
with  Holland  in  Egypt  (1890),  174- 
193 ;  with  Holland  in  South 
Africa,  220 

Wilkinson,  Miss  Constance,  174 

Wilkinson,  Miss  Margaret,  1 74  ;  letter 
to,  258 

Wilhams,  J.  W.,  Bishop  of  Kafiraria, 
100  ;   letters  to,  277,  280,  318-325 

Williams,  Dr.  Vaughan,  230 

Winchester  Cathedral,  261 

Wood,  F.  G.  L.,  10,  16,  162 

Wordsworth,  John,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, 104 

Work,  letters  on,  289 


York,  Archbishop  of,  291 

Young  Cousin,  letters  to  a,  265-274 


PRINTED    BY    WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND    SONS,    LIMITED,    LONDON    AND    BECCtES,     ENGLAND. 


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